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Ron Paul See other Ron Paul Articles Title: Rep. Paul says defense bill assures ‘descent into totalitarianism’ GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul warned that the National Defense Authorization Act, which was passed by Congress this month, will accelerate the countrys slip into tyranny and virtually assures our descent into totalitarianism. The founders wanted to set a high bar for the government to overcome in order to deprive an individual of life or liberty, Paul, the libertarian congressman, said Monday in a weekly phone message to supporters. To lower that bar is to endanger everyone. When the bar is low enough to include political enemies, our descent into totalitarianism is virtually assured. The Patriot Act, as bad as its violations against the Fourth Amendment was, was just one step down the slippery slope. The recently passed National Defense Authorization Act continues that slip into tyranny, and in fact, accelerates it significantly. The NDAA is the nearly $670 billion defense spending bill that covers the military budget and funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. One controversial provision mandates the detention of terror suspects and reaffirms the administrations authority to detain those suspected of having ties to terrorist organizations. The Fifth Amendment is about much more than the right to remain silent in the face of government questioning, Paul continued. It contains very basic and very critical stipulations about the due process of law. The government cannot imprison a person for no reason and with no evidence presented and without access to legal council. The danger of the NDAA is its alarmingly vague, undefined criteria for who can be indefinitely detained by the U.S. government without trial. It is no longer limited to members of Al Qaeda or the Taliban, but anyone accused of substantially supporting such groups or associated forces, Paul continued. How closely associated, and what constitutes substantial support? What if it was discovered that someone who committed a terrorist act was once involved with a charity? Or suppose a political candidate? Are all donors of that candidate or supporters of that candidate now suspects and subject to indefinite detainment? Is that charity now an associated force? The White House initially threatened to veto the NDAA because of the detainee language, saying it would tie the hands of law enforcement officials. But the administration dropped the veto threat before the bill passed the House, as the bills supporters argued that there were sufficient waivers. The presidents widely expanded view of his own authority to detain Americans indefinitely even on American soil is for the first time in this legislation codified in law, Paul said. That should chill all of us to our cores. The Bill of Rights has no exceptions for really bad people or terrorists or even non-citizens. It is a key check on government power against any person. That is not a weakness in our legal system, it is the very strength of our legal system. The NDAA attempts to justify abridging the Bill of Rights on the theory that rights are suspended in a time of war, and the entire United States is a battlefield in the war on terror. This is a very dangerous development, indeed. Beware. Poster Comment: I am, and have been, sufficiently chilled to my core by the activity of buttwheat to suffer frostbite every few days, sans the snow and/or ice!!! Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top Page Up Full Thread Page Down Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Phant2000 (#0)
Any cop can charge anyone with terrorism. Then have them held, no paperwork needed on there part, till DHS arrive. Then DHS picks you up, files some papers, and figures it all out later at their leisure. Maybe a year, maybe ten year, maybe never. Who cares about terrorists right? Nooooooooo. Fuck that. This shit has passed and we are now officially, by the governments own standards, at war with ourselves. The US as declared civil war on itself because we would not do it. This new law makes us all potential enemies. The military does not fuck around, it kills/neutralizes potential threats. I know what I may sound like but all the same it needs to be said that we are fucked. Martial law is in place. Obey? Disobey? It doesn't matter unless the pig with the gun says so. Their word has become law. Literally. Terrorist. I support revolution.
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