Reply #42: This [View All]

[lumberjack_jeff]

http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2006/09/22/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/04opinion.txt

Some historians say that the dark ages ended and the modern age began on June 15, 1215, at an English meadow named Runnymede. It was there that the foundation of civil society was created; the document which eventually became known as the Magna Carta. Its original intent was to settle disputes between King John, Pope Innocent III and the English Lords. The primary effect of this agreement was to prevent the king from ruling entirely by whim and to assure that his actions were bound by law.

The collection of documents which comprise the Magna Carta are the lynchpin of all western common law societies. It was the primary template for our own Constitution.

Among the things that the Magna Carta did for the citizenry was to guarantee that if the king were to throw you in a dungeon, you were guaranteed an opportunity in court to ask why you were being held.

Prior to that, it was common practice for the ruler to throw his detractors and rivals in dungeons where they died anonymous deaths. This principle eventually became known as Habeas Corpus or literally, “produce the body.” This principle is embodied in our Constitution as “No person shall be ... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

It is difficult to envision a more important legal principle in a free society. What good are other freedoms if the king can throw you in a secret dungeon, anonymously, for as long as he sees fit?

Fast forward 800 years. Based on the false premise that a free people cannot be safe, the U.S. Congress is considering a variety of bills to legalize torture. Each of those bills have two other, less-discussed elements, 1) the bills would substitute the defendant’s access to our court system with military tribunals — which are secret and answerable only to the President and, 2) repealing the principle of habeas corpus.

Under any of the bills currently being considered, the president has the authority to dissappear anyone, at will, to secret prisons all over the globe and never say why, except to invoke the “T” word and call it a national security issue.

Liberals ridicule conservatives for wanting to re-create the 18th century. This gives them entirely too much credit. They’re apparently aiming for the Dark Ages.

Sadly, Democrats are afraid of speaking out on the topic for fear that they will be seen as insufficiently supportive of totalitarianism.