The Breeze
Defense Act allows Government to DetainWednesday, April 04, 2012 By Jose A. DeLeon and Sterling Snow
On December 31, 2012, the day before New Years, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2012 was signed into law by President Obama. With this harmless bill there lurked something far more sinister: a portion of the bill that gives the U S government the authority to detain American citizens. The NDAA, according to Wikipedia, “The Act authorizes $662 billion in funding, among other things “for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad.” yet it isn’t this definition which is scary. The scary part is the separate sections within the bill which give the U.S government the authority to detain American citizens, on the assumption that they are aiding and abetting terrorism. It isn’t enough that we have an overreaching police force here in Santa Maria where, officers are shooting each other, left and right, now we could be detained and persecuted under military law, just because we might be suspects and aiding terrorism? This controversial new law has found fierce opposition from such notable figures as Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, Charlie Sheen, and Lady Gaga, including civil rights groups such as the ACLU. Legislatures in more than seven states have filed motions to nullify the law, and dozens of personal lawsuits have been filed, most notably by liberal activist Chris Hedges, against the Obama Administration over it. This kind of law would eventually undermine our democratic society by allowing the government to detain American citizens. This is a clear violation of the constitution and should be protested everywhere. Many people feel that this law was passed right through the legislature’s offices and it received very little media coverage outside of the occasional right wing, libertarian websites or television shows such as “Freedom Watch.” You wouldn’t be mistaken to hear this in China, but in America? I thought we fought a revolutionary war against such tyrannical behaviors by a strong central government that was common in the time of the founding fathers, but know people just see it as normal that our government can pass so many laws that the destruction of personal freedom is assured. We are opposed to anything that would limit our bill of rights or constitutional rights; do we really want to allow our society to become one such as China’s where the government is omnipresent? Even after this there is still hope of repealing it, leading constitutional defenders, and republican presidential candidate, Ron Paul has put forward a bill that would repeal The N.D.A.A. Still, people need to be aware of this perturbing event. People need to have a stance of non-compliance and refuse to cooperate When such legislation is passed in a back stabbing manner, Americans must resist or risk facing another step in a totalitarian direction. We the people are no longer fighting a war on “terrorism.” This is a war on (as Mike Burkett would say) “errorism.” |