On the night of December 31st, 2011, you were most likely celebrating the arrival of the new year by enjoying a dazzling fireworks display, throwing a party with friends, or simply relaxing at home in anticipation of the famous ball drop in Times Square, New York. Perhaps you were even updating your Facebook status, wishing your closest friends and relatives a prosperous new year. Unfortunately, 2012 does not seem to be looking so promising at all. While you were out celebrating, our very own President Obama knowingly authorized the decimation of our rights as American citizens.
How did he do this? On New Year’s Eve, 2011, Obama surreptitiously signed H.R. 1540, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 or NDAA, into law. What exactly is the NDAA? This 565-page, $662 billion law allows the government to detain, torture, and imprison you indefinitely without trial, should you pose as a threat to the government in any way whatsoever, or give off the impression that you are involved with al-Qaeda, the Taliban or “related forces.” So you may want to think twice about what you post to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr because whatever you post on the Internet can and will be monitored, and if the government deems your posts as overly-rebellious or threatening to theU.S., they will take immediate action.
But wait a minute. Does the Bill of Rights not protect freedom of speech, press, religion, and assembly? Does it not prohibit unreasonable searches and seizures? Does it not guarantee due process in a court of law, a quick hearing, and trial by jury? Does it not prohibit excessive bail, fines and punishment? And were the Constitution and the Bill of Rights not established in order to limit the power of government, not the freedom of the people? Unfortunately for us, all of these supposedly irrevocable rights once promised by these historic legal documents are essentially rendered obsolete and useless by H.R. 1540.
Exacerbating the current outrage with the content of this law is the fact that Obama had previously expressed intention to veto the legislation altogether. Then, in an act of utter hypocrisy, he passed it! The Huffington Post reported that in his signing statement, Obama declared that he “signed [the] bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists.” So once again, Obama has failed to remain steadfast in his word; only this time, the results of his capriciousness will be undoubtedly catastrophic.
The NDAA has now made it legal to torture and imprisonU.S.citizens without fair trial. The Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution are no longer sacred. And if you are still considering casting your vote for Barack Obama this November, you seriously need to reevaluate your choice, unless you want to continue to be governed by a leader who is steering our country towards a military-dominated, totalitarian government.