Dear Kossacks
I am talking about "incrementalism." Capitalism, socialism, fundamentalism, feminism. Meet the new ism. Incrementalism. Funny how things creep up on us.
It's not okay to rip up the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. So, Bush et al erode it gradually. In a time of national exigency, they whip through the Patriot Act, with "sneak and peek" searches and secret "security letters" that ignore the 4th Amendment. Then one day, no more Constitution. Only the Patriot Act and presidential "signing statements" that purport to bypass the legislative process.
It is not okay to declare the 5th and 6th Amendments dead and buried. So instead, the Bushies lock up people indefinitely in secret prisons where lawyers do not exist and charges are never filed. Then one day, those secret far-off prisons are domestic detention centers. Your Raging Granny is gone. Locked up.
Katrina hits. Disaster. The National Guard arrives in New Orleans. We are relieved.
George Bush announces thousands of National Guard troops will be sent to "protect" our borders from terrorists.
Are we still relieved?
Or are we thinking "incrementalism"? Troops at the border, then at the airport? The bus station? The banks? The market? Troops everywhere. What happened to the Posse Comitatus Act, a law established in the wake of the Civil War that prohibits the use of troops for domestic law enforcement? The ACLU thinks Bush's "troops-at-the-border" edict violates the Posse Comitatus Act. In response, the Republican leadership is trying to roll back the Posse Comitatus Act altogether, hoping to place the National Guard under the authority of the President, not the Governor of a particular state.
We don't need to repeal Posse Comitatus. Nothing in the Act prevents the use of military troops in times of disaster.
We need to elect Democrats who will impeach Bush and Cheney. Count me in.
Marcy Winograd
Vote June 6th
Winogradforcongress.com
Winograd vs. Harman; Peace vs. War