MB Civic

When the Patriot Act was enacted, many of us on the left knew that only one thing remained in order to put this country on a truly proto-totalitarian path, one on which the very term “proto-totalitarian” was not simply the ravings of a bunch of black helicopter-fearing paranoids: the repeal of posse comitatus – the Constitutional provision that disallows the use of the military within U.S. borders and prevents the imposition of “martial law.” And when many of us predicted that this would occur relatively soon – that posse comitatus would be either repealed or modified – we were pooh-poohed, even by many of our fellow lefties.

Thus, it gives me ZERO pleasure to say “I told you so.” Bush was able to get a provision put into the recently passed defense budget bill that would effectively rescind posse comitatus and declare martial law.

I don’t care what side of the political, religious, economic or other spectrums you fall, or what other “causes” are dear to your heart. If you have never contacted an elected representative to urge passage of a bill, NOW IS THE TIME. A bipartisan bill introduced by Patrick Leahy and Christopher Bond would repeal the anti-posse comitatus provision. CONTACT YOUR SENATORS AND CONGRESSMAN IMMEDIATELY AND URGE THEM – IN THE STRONGEST TONES POSSIBLE – TO VOTE FOR THE LEAHY-BOND BILL.

There has rarely been a more critical moment in American history vis-a-vis freedom, liberty and civil rights. DO NOT PUT THIS OFF. DO IT NOW!!

Peace.

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Making Martial Law Easier

A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that strike to the heart of American democracy have been passed in the dead of night. So it was with a provision quietly tucked into the enormous defense budget bill at the Bush administration’s behest that makes it easier for a president to override local control of law enforcement and declare martial law.

The provision, signed into law in October, weakens two obscure but important bulwarks of liberty. One is the doctrine that bars military forces, including a federalized National Guard, from engaging in law enforcement. Called posse comitatus, it was enshrined in law after the Civil War to preserve the line between civil government and the military. The other is the Insurrection Act of 1807, which provides the major exemptions to posse comitatus. It essentially limits a president’s use of the military in law enforcement to putting down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion, where a state is violating federal law or depriving people of constitutional rights.

The newly enacted provisions upset this careful balance. They shift the focus from making sure that federal laws are enforced to restoring public order. Beyond cases of actual insurrection, the president may now use military troops as a domestic police force in response to a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack or to any “other condition.”

Changes of this magnitude should be made only after a thorough public airing. But these new presidential powers were slipped into the law without hearings or public debate. The president made no mention of the changes when he signed the measure, and neither the White House nor Congress consulted in advance with the nation’s governors.

There is a bipartisan bill, introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, and Christopher Bond, Republican of Missouri, and backed unanimously by the nation’s governors, that would repeal the stealthy revisions. Congress should pass it. If changes of this kind are proposed in the future, they must get a full and open debate.