There they are at the podium...shamelessly pressing the fear button and exploiting the trauma of 9/11; selling us on the virtue of torture, wars of aggression, secret arrests and kangaroo courts; manipulating those who still trust them into accepting the unacceptable and defending the indefensible.

Are these men and women fit to lead America? Are they worthy of the title President of the United States? Are they suited for our highest office...or are they charlatans unfit for our lowest?

Those who founded this country intentionally limited the power of those in office. They did so knowing that ALL government trends toward tyranny. Those limits (as outlined in our Constitution and Bill of Rights) are the supreme law of the land. NOBODY is above them -- not even the President. He, too, must publicly swear to "preserve, protect, and defend" the limits on his power.

"The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first."-- Thomas Jefferson

Our great "American Experiment" started 231 years ago. From the threat of having the British Empire crush our nation in its infancy, to the unspeakable vision of Soviet nuclear warheads incinerating every major American city in an hour, we've somehow managed to remain true to our founding principles. Are we to accept those days are gone? Are we to openly embrace the tactics of Evil regimes we've vilified and stood against? Did secret police, torture and mock trials bring safety to Stalinist Russia? Did wars of aggression and unspeakable brutality bring safety to Hitler's Germany?  How did the people of Pol Pot's Cambodia, or Mao Zedong's China do under their nation's "get tough" approach to so-called enemy combatants...

Using 9/11 for leverage, the Terror candidates continue to grind away at the foundation of our Republic. Like the great fear-mongering propagandists of the past, they paint terrifying images in the minds of the masses so they can secure their own unlimited power. –So they can elevate themselves “above” the moral and legislative laws that all others are expected to abide by.

If we’re to maintain any freedom in this country, we must forcefully reject these manipulative and disgraceful tactics. Torture, arrest and indefinite incarceration (without evidence, without charges) wars of aggression, wholesale violations of our privacy rights, zero accountability in government: These things CANNOT and WILL NOT "keep our nation safe." –And in accepting these “policies” we destroy for ourselves the very essence of what we're supposed to be protecting.

J. Plummer 5.18.07
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