No French Kissing on the Fourth

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Mon, 4 Jul 2005 10:51:16 -0700 (PDT)

No French Kissing on the Fourth

 

 

 

 

 

No French Kissing on the Fourth

by Zoltan Abraham

 

The Fourth is here, which means that French kissing is out, at least

for today. Couples should Freedom-kiss instead. Or, to be more

accurate, we should be kissing our freedoms good-bye.

 

In 1776, a bunch of wealthy white guys got together to tell King

George III to take a hike because he was trampling on their rights. On

July 4th, they published the Declaration of Independence, in which

they listed the ways in which the King had violated human rights.

Eventually, after a bloody war (and significant assistance from the

French), the Declaration of Independence led to the creation of the

United States – a country whose Constitution shows a profound

commitment to upholding the rights of all people (well, only white

males at first, but in time the definition of human was expanded to

include minorities, and even women).

 

Perhaps we should be concerned when we find that our own government

today is perpetrating some of the same abuses that the writers of the

Declaration of Independence had ascribed to King George. Shouldn't we?

 

In three ways especially, George W. Bush has followed in the footsteps

of his namesake:

 

1) The Declaration of Independence complains about King George: " He

has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their

offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. " George Bush

has not gone quite this far. But the GOP has led an all-out assault on

the independent judiciary, fiercely denouncing judges who issue

rulings contrary to their political agenda. The GOP is using the

President's power to appoint judges to mold the American judiciary

into another wing of the Republican Party, thereby undermining the

constitutional role of the judiciary as one of the three checks and

balances of power in the United States.

 

2) The Declaration of Independence says of King George: " He has

affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the

Civil power. " Has Dubya done this? Yes. In the United States, only

Congress can authorize war. But the President lied to Congress about

the reasons for going to war, and presented to Congress intelligence

that he knew to be false. He thus manipulated the members of Congress

into agreeing to a war that otherwise they might not have authorized.

Through Dubya's devious maneuvering, Congress has lost the ability to

oversee the operations of the US military.

 

3) The Declaration of Independence also denounces King George " For

depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury. " Can

anyone say Guantanamo Bay? George W. Bush has imprisoned American

citizens without bringing charges against them, without giving them

the benefit of a trial by jury. American citizens are locked away

indefinitely, perhaps for life, without receiving any due process.

 

Shouldn't this stuff worry us? We talk much about honoring all those

who have sacrificed their lives so that we can have freedom. The best

way to honor them on this Fourth of July is to wake up to the fact

that the freedoms they have won for us are now being taken away by the

Republican administration in power. To honor all those who have won

for us our freedoms, we must stand up to the Republican Party.