President Obama’s endorsement of George Bush’s contempt for the rule of law, his Nixonian claims for executive authority on civil liberties and Presidential power, and violation of campaign promises, gives us a wonderful test of a claim I recently made that Republican Right Wingers had abandoned citizenship for tribalism, and had ceased being decent citizens in the process.
Keith Olbermann, Glenn Greenwald, Russ Feingold, Nancy Pelosi, among others, have strongly criticized, and even condemned the Obama administrations sorry record on civil liberties and the rule of law, just as they had done with George Bush.
President Obama’s Justice Department now is not just
defending Bush officials from lawsuits surrounding National Security
Agency domestic spying, but seeking to expand the government’s
authority by making it immune from any legal challenge regarding
wiretapping–ever. Welcome to change you cannot believe in or sue
over.nnThis is how citizens act. They uphold the principles their
country is founded on above even the political convenience of their own
side.
we can never have a repetition of what was done under the Bush administration or a continuation of that.
Senator Russ Feingold has said
I am troubled that once again the Obama administration has
decided to invoke the state secrets privilege in a case challenging the
previous administration’s alleged misconduct. The Obama
administration’s action, on top of Congress’s mistaken decision last
year to give immunity to the telecommunications companies that
allegedly participated in the warrantless wiretapping program, will
make it even harder for courts to rule on the legality of that program.
And there are a great many more examples.
Anyone with a memory will recognize there was virtually no equivalent
concern by any elected Republicans and their many media hacks when Bush
was acting like a little caesar. They were too busy wrapping
themselves in a flag they did not respect and attacking any loyal
citizens who took the constitution seriously.
This is what separates a great many liberals and Democrats from almost
all Republicans and conservatives. They actually put the interests of
their country ahead of holding power when the issues are significant.
They aren’t saints of course, none of us are, but they can distinguish
between the little games politicians always play to hold power, like
gerrymandering, and wholesale attacks on the basic underpinnings of a
free society and the constitution that supports it.
When I blogged on right-wing and Republican tribalism, I hit a nerve
among some of my conservative readers. They tried to disparage my
comments by arguing one sided adoration of the Dear Leader
was not really tribalism, or that Democrats do it as well. Now we see
that they are wrong, yet again. There is a deep difference in the
center of gravity between those today called liberals and those called
conservatives. The former are much more likely to know how to act as a
good citizen.
If the conservatives and Republicans want to give up citizenship for
tribalism, fine. We can’t stop them. But they should have the
integrity to admit that is what they are doing.
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