SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Obama Leaves Bush-Cheney Repressive Apparatus Standing
Sep 21, 2009
Civil libertarians cheered the election of Barack Obama, and with good reason.
Bush and Cheney had trampled all over our rights and liberties.
And as someone who taught constitutional law, Obama denounced the Presidential power grabs and pledged to address them.
But he hasn't followed through on that pledge.
This week, the Senate is holding a hearing on the reauthorization of
some expiring-and troubling--sections of the Patriot Act. The Obama
Administration wants to reauthorize them nonetheless.
One of these is Section 215, which allows the FBI to slap National
Security Letters on bookstores and libraries and thereby find out who
has been checking out or buying which book. This is a violation of our
right to privacy and to Free Speech, and Obama should know better.
Obama's Administration is also making the outrageous claim that it
can detain anyone it wants at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, and
then deny that person all access to due process and habeas corpus.
Nor has Obama made any move to rectify the blatant denial of due
process that is embedded in the Military Commissions Act, which allows
the President to designate anyone an enemy combatant and jail you. If
you're not a U.S. citizen, he can jail you as an "alien enemy
combatant," and you may never see a judge or a lawyer for the rest of
your life.
Nor has Obama withdrawn National Security Presidential Directive 51,
which gives to the President extraordinary powers over the other
branches of government at every level in times of an emergency that he
himself declares.
These examples strongly suggest that Obama doesn't have the will to
tear down the edifice of oppression that Bush and Cheney constructed.
As a result, we remain today a much less free country than we were
eight years ago. And it looks like we'll remain that way tomorrow.
Even if Obama doesn't use these powers against us, a rightwing successor like Sarah Palin sure might.
This is one issue where libertarians and progressive need to get together on, in a hurry.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2023 The Progressive
Matt Rothschild
Matt Rothschild is the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Prior to joining the Democracy Campaign at the start of 2015, Matt worked at The Progressive Magazine for 32 years. For most of those, he was the editor and publisher of The Progressive.
Civil libertarians cheered the election of Barack Obama, and with good reason.
Bush and Cheney had trampled all over our rights and liberties.
And as someone who taught constitutional law, Obama denounced the Presidential power grabs and pledged to address them.
But he hasn't followed through on that pledge.
This week, the Senate is holding a hearing on the reauthorization of
some expiring-and troubling--sections of the Patriot Act. The Obama
Administration wants to reauthorize them nonetheless.
One of these is Section 215, which allows the FBI to slap National
Security Letters on bookstores and libraries and thereby find out who
has been checking out or buying which book. This is a violation of our
right to privacy and to Free Speech, and Obama should know better.
Obama's Administration is also making the outrageous claim that it
can detain anyone it wants at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, and
then deny that person all access to due process and habeas corpus.
Nor has Obama made any move to rectify the blatant denial of due
process that is embedded in the Military Commissions Act, which allows
the President to designate anyone an enemy combatant and jail you. If
you're not a U.S. citizen, he can jail you as an "alien enemy
combatant," and you may never see a judge or a lawyer for the rest of
your life.
Nor has Obama withdrawn National Security Presidential Directive 51,
which gives to the President extraordinary powers over the other
branches of government at every level in times of an emergency that he
himself declares.
These examples strongly suggest that Obama doesn't have the will to
tear down the edifice of oppression that Bush and Cheney constructed.
As a result, we remain today a much less free country than we were
eight years ago. And it looks like we'll remain that way tomorrow.
Even if Obama doesn't use these powers against us, a rightwing successor like Sarah Palin sure might.
This is one issue where libertarians and progressive need to get together on, in a hurry.
Matt Rothschild
Matt Rothschild is the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Prior to joining the Democracy Campaign at the start of 2015, Matt worked at The Progressive Magazine for 32 years. For most of those, he was the editor and publisher of The Progressive.
Civil libertarians cheered the election of Barack Obama, and with good reason.
Bush and Cheney had trampled all over our rights and liberties.
And as someone who taught constitutional law, Obama denounced the Presidential power grabs and pledged to address them.
But he hasn't followed through on that pledge.
This week, the Senate is holding a hearing on the reauthorization of
some expiring-and troubling--sections of the Patriot Act. The Obama
Administration wants to reauthorize them nonetheless.
One of these is Section 215, which allows the FBI to slap National
Security Letters on bookstores and libraries and thereby find out who
has been checking out or buying which book. This is a violation of our
right to privacy and to Free Speech, and Obama should know better.
Obama's Administration is also making the outrageous claim that it
can detain anyone it wants at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, and
then deny that person all access to due process and habeas corpus.
Nor has Obama made any move to rectify the blatant denial of due
process that is embedded in the Military Commissions Act, which allows
the President to designate anyone an enemy combatant and jail you. If
you're not a U.S. citizen, he can jail you as an "alien enemy
combatant," and you may never see a judge or a lawyer for the rest of
your life.
Nor has Obama withdrawn National Security Presidential Directive 51,
which gives to the President extraordinary powers over the other
branches of government at every level in times of an emergency that he
himself declares.
These examples strongly suggest that Obama doesn't have the will to
tear down the edifice of oppression that Bush and Cheney constructed.
As a result, we remain today a much less free country than we were
eight years ago. And it looks like we'll remain that way tomorrow.
Even if Obama doesn't use these powers against us, a rightwing successor like Sarah Palin sure might.
This is one issue where libertarians and progressive need to get together on, in a hurry.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.