The hollow display of "dissent" by Republican leaders over torture might have been tolerable if it had had a different result, but last Friday - with little fanfare and even less media coverage - the Senate passed a law that didn't just take a weak stance on the subject; the new law (and that's a word that can only be used ironically here) eliminates the single most important element of any civilized society, the right of the accused to face their accuser in court (also known as habeas corpus). Even worse than that, the new Military Commissions Law gives the president (or people he designates) the power to declare anyone -
anyone - an "enemy combatant" and imprison them indefinitely with no recourse of any kind. It also allows them to be tried and convicted based on secret evidence and coerced testimony.
US citizens can now be rounded up and sent to internment camps at home or abroad for any reason or no reason at all. Dissent of any kind could easily fall under the extremely vague conditions of the law. I have to say, there have been many times over the span of my political awareness that I've been annoyed, frustrated, nervous or angry with my government, but this is the first time I've ever felt truly terrified. It's true enough to say, well, they probably won't come for you, at least not right away, but that's absolutely no comfort and it makes a pale mockery of the very soul of our nation. We have moved, slowly but steadily over the past 6 years, toward a totalitarian state, and this bill puts the capital T on the word. Any other shoes that drop from this point forward will be unsurprising in the context of the reality we live in now.
The great complacency that defines most Americans at any given time is a contributing factor to all of the erosions we've seen in our liberties and our way of life; the ongoing economic squeeze of the middle and lower classes from all possible sides in order to funnel more money into the hands of a greed-depraved few, the continuing degradation of our public school system, the cancerous corruption of corporate money in our electoral and legislative systems, and the steady apocalyptic drumbeat of war for war's sake...all of these are fundamentally domestic issues that could be resolved, with hard work and moxie, if we were to engage them as a nation. People can play on an unlevel playing field and still win, if the cause is just and the citizens are actively involved in the game.
Now, however, the playing field has been abandoned entirely. Any person, at any time, can be removed from the game based solely on the president's discretion. This isn't about protecting us from terrorists any more; the terrorists have achieved their horrible purpose with the aid of our own elected leaders. The complacent or compliant among us will undoubtedly say "If you haven't done anything wrong...." Answer them with this: "Who will speak out when they come for you?" It has happened before, many many times in the course of history, and we are not so special or beloved by God that we're immune from human evil. It doesn't even matter if this new power never gets used (although it certainly will) - it's too much power for anyone to have, too brutal and vicious by far for a civilization to tolerate.
I'm one of those who can't keep quiet, even if I don't know exactly what to do or how do fix a problem I see. I'm a dissenter, a rabble-rouser even, and it doesn't really matter whether anyone listens to me or not because my inborn sense of what's ethical and right compels me to speak out against injustice even if I don't have a huge audience or resources at hand to apply to the problem. Every once in a while I win one, either alone or along with others, and it feels good. The penalty for failure was simply failure, and there was always a chance to try again. The penalty now for failure is oblivion. If my writings here, or my attendance at a peace rally, or some other act of honest defiance were to get me arrested and detained under the new law, my life would be ruined. I wouldn't be able to pay my bills, and I'd lose my house. Every single scrap of possession I own would be handed over to the bank or the state. My sweet, beloved dogs would be sent to an animal shelter (unless something worse happened to them), and I would never see them again. My place in the world would be forfeit, and even if I were released at some point in the future, I would have nothing to return to and no place to go. Heaven only knows whether the same would happen to anyone related to or even acquainted with me.
If that's too self-absorbed for you, imagine yourself as the 'I' in the previous sentences. Is that hyperbole? I pray fervently that it is, but I've read too much history and too much current news to be able to convince myself of that. We are a nation engulfed in shadow, mistaking the dim twinkles of celebrity or consumer goods for daylight. It's not too late to pull back from this, but the amount of human power and dedication (not to mention the level of potential casualties) that will be required to win the fight has been dramatically increased. We cannot let this story get trumped by more recent news that happens to be more lurid or sensational. This story is permanently timely. We are past the "let's see what happens" stage; we need to shout the truth of this from every single rooftop and enlist everyone who's still breathing in this cause. The penalty for failure is the doom of us all.
[Update] I can't believe I forgot to mention this...I guess dread really is a pretty good brain-fuzzer. The World Can't Wait [http://www.worldcantwait.org] (why is that not making a hyperlink?) is sponsoring over 200 peaceful rallies in cities around the country *tomorrow, October 5* - check their site for times and locations in your city. I'll be attending the rally at the City/County building in Salt Lake City at noon.