I find myself missing those good old days when we in America would do one thing but say another. We would of course act as if the ends justify the means, but we used to exhibit the civility of cloaking the thing in some lovely rhetoric, about how high minded we are.
But now there no longer seems to be a need to do that. Now we no longer seem to need to obscure official policies on spying on our own citizens without warrants, using torture, disappearing people into a zone where no law applies, and commending dictators like General Musharraf, and dispensing with Habeas Corpus.
Remember Articles 4-6 of the Bill of Rights?
How did it happen that our Administration no longer needs to pretend it is acting lawfully?
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger . . .
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
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