Are you tired of candidate diaries? Would you like to discuss something a little more Adult. Then join me for a robust discussion about size. I will be making the case that size doesn't matter. Of course I am talking about the size of the population that has been subject to GWB's unconstitutional behavior regarding detention at Gitmo (or other foreign locations), torture, as well as the whole enemy combatant classification. As always please let me know what I left out.
I was watching the oh so serious Mort Kondracke on Fox awhile back and he was making the case that Americans were unconcerned about Guantonimo, torture, and the whole issue of enemy combatants because the number of individuals involved were rather small. I would contend that the intense secrecy of this administration makes it impossible to know how many people are truly involved. I know when GWB said that ~30,000 Iraqi’s had been killed at one point in the war, more reliable sources were putting that number at 10X as much or more. I expect the number of person’s held secretly by our government is small. As a practical matter harsh treatment, even inhumane treatment, of a few is not going to (by itself) have a huge impact upon the US or the world (every year many more people are killed in (other) criminal activity). There is the idea that for the US to pursue such policies has resulted in us losing something more valuable than the small number of lives might suggest. Unfortunately our political system is very poor at going back and reassessing the impact of poorly crafted legislation after it has been sanctioned by the courts. The Supreme Court made a horrible decision in the case Plessy v. Ferguson in (1896) and did not overturn it until Brown v. Board of Education (1954). If the courts ultimately give their seal of approval to removing Habeas Corpus the effects will certainly be enormous and long lasting. I remember studying the Civil Rights movement, and one thing that the leaders in that effort strived to do was to ensure that the individuals they brought forward were the most compelling ones they could find. Children being denied a decent education, or an excellent student being denied acceptance to a public university were more sympathetic than some criminal who was mistreated by the police. Similarly this Administration is picking it’s cases very carefully, and while many of the people being held are believed to be very dangerous terrorists, many of the rules being implemented do not adequately protect the rest of us. So in a very real sense we are all part of an elaborate bait-and-switch, today it’s Jose Padilla, tomorrow, who knows? I happen to be very concerned about Global Warming, for both of these issues, I am afraid that by the time we have evidence that convinces Americans to take action, it may be too late.