Recently, Attorney General Gonzales testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee and confounded members by making the assertion that habeas corpus was not guaranteed by the Constitution. While Comedy Central’s "Colbert Report" had some fun with the exchange, it’s a very serious matter when the attorney general of the United States of America so dangerously misinterprets the Constitution at the expense of fundamental rights.
Come on, where are all the conservatives, traditionalists and libertarians now that a Republican government is trashing the constitutional rights of its citizens? Deafeningly silent is the answer. The argument that “you have nothing to fear if you have done nothing to offend” is the argument used by the Germans under the Nazis, the Russians under Stalin (and Putin?), and under a host of other illiberal regimes. Imagine if it were Clinton who had brought in these measures.
Epicureans might not wish to get involved in politics, but can recognize serious peril when they see it.
Yes, I am not sure what part of Section 9 Gonzalez doesn’t understand: “The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” Perhaps he thinks we have been invaded?? On the other hand, I doubt many Americans have bothered to read our Constitution, For instance, Americans actually think we elect our President, but there is no right to vote for the President located in our Constitution; the Electors from each State actually notified the President of the Senate as to the total number of electoral votes from each State, and the person having the highest number of votes was President, and the 2nd highest was the Vice President. WE are not a democracy(mob rule), we are a representative republic.