In a First, U.S. Acknowledges Drones Killing 4 Americans

[davidthegnome]

99. It is exactly that sort of logic...

that permits people like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and so on... to get away with various, outrageous offenses against their own people and humanity overall. "Well, obeying the law is difficult. It's too hard to bring these criminals to trial." In the case of those like Bush and Cheney - well, they're wealthy, powerful, so those who replace them let them off the hook. After all, if they were held accountable for their actions... it might set a dangerous precedent!

There is risk, danger, and hardship that comes with following the law - this is true of any remotely civilized society. When the law is manipulated - when civil rights and greater freedom are exchanged for complacency and for safety, then we run the risk of letting those in power trample all over us - the last few decades should be enough to prove this point. Think your phone can't be tapped without a warrant? Think you can't be imprisoned without any charges? Think we still require trials for poor shmucks like the average citizen, or worse, poor people? Or worse still... poor brown people? Well, I don't think any of that. Not anymore.

Allowing citizens to commit crimes is not something we have any control over. You cannot prevent theft, rape, or murder, anymore than you can prevent the sun from rising. What we can do is punish the guilty - however, first, we have an obligation to confirm that they are guilty, and in America we do this by investigation, by trial, by what is supposed to bear some resemblance to fair representation. Remove that, remove the law from the equation, and it all falls apart. The Bush years demonstrated this, the Obama years are (to a lesser extent) continuing to demonstrate this.

What happens when we get another republican President in office? What happens if, at some point in the future, it is someone you love that ends up in that hypothetical scenario I described? Will you still think it's okay to ignore the law in pursuit of simply eliminating those who are determined to be enemies?

The law applies to everyone - even when it is difficult, even when it is enormously difficult to follow. Our civil rights are something that were bled for, fought for, heavily sacrificed for. They should not now be abandoned because it is difficult to extradite a criminal from a dangerous Country. We eliminated Osama Bin Laden, we captured Saddam Hussein, historically, we assisted in bringing an end to the evil inspired by Hitler.

We do damn difficult things, even seemingly impossible things, quite frequently. There is no reason why this case should be any different. Bring them here, have them stand trial - and if they are guilty, then let punishment be meted out. The assassination of an American citizen, domestic or foreign... goes against everything that we as Americans have struggled for and bled for and died for. It is an outrageous abuse of civil rights - and it is, quite frankly, a crime, regardless of who is responsible.