Every passing day gives me another reason to be disappointed in our president and our government.
Not, mind you, because Barack Obama too “liberal” or “socialist” or “fascist” or “communist” or any other nonsensical and insupportable-by-reality slur but because, quite to the contrary, he has ushered in what seems to me a stunted, overly-measured, carefully calculated and quite conservative administration that reeks of Bush Lite. This is not to say that Obama deserves all the blame for not grabbing the reins and doing as his loyal base, those millions of liberal supporters (myself included) would like to see—bring about actual, progressive change, instead of relying on the same failed measures that have confined us to a decade of economic stagnation and international disdain. The Republicans, certainly, and the Democratic Party share the blame; the former, for working unceasingly and without remorse for the total and complete failure of our first black president and his ambitious agenda, the latter for being nearly as wedded to the wealthy corporate elite as their Republican brethren.
But, on some issues, it seems that responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of President Obama.
Take, for example, today’s New York Times article detailing the Obama administration’s approval of the targeted assassination of a U.S. citizen who allegedly poses a direct and violent threat to the United States. This order to kill Anwar al-Awlaki—admittedly, no friend of America and certainly someone who has expressed rather unsavory opinions of our country—should make all Americans wary of the power their government claims to exercise in their name. It should, too, provide further evidence that the Bush administration’s declaration of a war on terror has brought about nothing less than the embrace of an all-encompassing, international, perpetual and unprecedented claim on the part of the United States government to the use of military methods and wartime powers to fight any perceived “terrorist” threat, no matter how ill-defined, ephemeral, or politically motivated that threat may be.
Since when has the secret authorization of the National Security Council and the President of the United States provided carte blanche to murder an American citizen, with no warrant, no arrest, no trial, no conviction, and no sentence? Since when have the upper echelons of American power felt authorized to slaughter a citizen of the country they profess to serve? A citizen whose very existence provides the philosophical and legal standing under which those leaders supposedly govern?
This unilateral and unconstitutional power is what develops when any situation, any country, and any person opposed to the U.S. government finds itself in the context of a unilaterally-declared war not against any force or army, but against an ideology. Yet, when war on terror transcends the ideological and inevitably takes shape in its physical form, it becomes not simply a war on terror, but a war against terrorists—and a terrorist is anyone the government sees fit to silence, jail… or kill. How long until today’s environmental rights activists, advocates for the downtrodden, those calling for an end to war, and all those fighting against the interests of a corporatized and militarized state are labelled the anti-American enemies of said state, and become vulnerable to termination-on-sight upon NSC approval?
Should U.S. forces in Yemen come upon al-Awlaki actively leading a band of radical Islamic insurgents, AK-47s at their side and trained on the approaching American troops, then take the guy out. But outside of this purely military situation, if al-Awlaki is found, he should be captured and tried for treason in a court of law. If we are a nation governed by laws, governed by our Constitution, and not subject to the whim of secret government panels and arbitrary executive authority—if we are a nation guided by the truth that every American is innocent until proven guilty and that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are founded upon and guaranteed not by our government but by our very standing as human beings—then the assassination of any American citizen without a fair trial establishing his guilt is not only an affront to the liberty, freedom, and security of us all, but also provides a frightening glimpse of the fate that could one day befall any of us.
I realize that this was more angry than analytical; I apologize. This news makes me incredibly upset and I felt the need to vent.
