Future American Dictator?
Right now there's a battle between the President and Congress over his rights to authorize spying within the USA. I have a certain amount of trust that the government is indeed spying on only those who are suspected terrorists. We all want to avoid another 9/11 attack.
The President has been given extraordinary powers to protect Americans but it is all done in secret. Only a few people within the administration know the program(s). There really is no oversight from Congress or the courts.
I am not so concerned about the current situation but let's take the current circumstance and go out 2 or 3 Presidents from now. The war on terrorism will go on for a long long time.
What if that future President was not moral? What if that President used these extra powers to spy on political opponents? Surely there would be information that could be gleaned from secret wire taps that could be used to blackmail people. Or, perhaps, just insider information that would give that future President the political edge. No one would need to know how that information was obtained. And, if anyone dared to expose this kind of corruption, they could easily be arrested on the grounds of exposing state secrets or aiding terrorists.
Is this situation far fetched? No, my history books are full of this kind of thing.
Let me be clear that I am not accusing President Bush of these things.
I'm concerned about the long term implications of the current policies. Without appropriate oversight, we are trusting that future Presidents will be moral people. I don't think that's a good risk to take in the long run.
The President has been given extraordinary powers to protect Americans but it is all done in secret. Only a few people within the administration know the program(s). There really is no oversight from Congress or the courts.
I am not so concerned about the current situation but let's take the current circumstance and go out 2 or 3 Presidents from now. The war on terrorism will go on for a long long time.
What if that future President was not moral? What if that President used these extra powers to spy on political opponents? Surely there would be information that could be gleaned from secret wire taps that could be used to blackmail people. Or, perhaps, just insider information that would give that future President the political edge. No one would need to know how that information was obtained. And, if anyone dared to expose this kind of corruption, they could easily be arrested on the grounds of exposing state secrets or aiding terrorists.
Is this situation far fetched? No, my history books are full of this kind of thing.
Let me be clear that I am not accusing President Bush of these things.
I'm concerned about the long term implications of the current policies. Without appropriate oversight, we are trusting that future Presidents will be moral people. I don't think that's a good risk to take in the long run.
posted by Kevmo at 9:08 PM
3 Comments:
I agree Kevin. I'm not certain it'a good idea either, although I can offer no better solution to international security. The older I get, the more I realize that some of the most atrocious violations of human rights have occurred in very recent years, and that real people committed them.
"...we are trusting that future Presidents will be moral people."
Well, after all, any President, past or future, is a mere human being. What human is completely moral? I can imagine that many of the crimes, injustices and abuses of power that occur in the political realm started off as very small breaches of the moral code and simply grew out of control. I do completely agree with you, but I don't think it's as black and white as chosing a "good" President.
GREAT Point!! It's a bit scary when you think "future"...
I'm thankful for the president we have at present...but, we can't hope to be this thankful always... and actually, now that I think about it seriously it's more than a BIT scary!!
I'm with Patty...I'm disgusted by some of the violations of human rights that have occured in our adulthood - hmmmmm - wonder how much longer until it gets SOOO bad, that our Lord will come again?!~
Maybe this is just what it will take...the ball is rolling already!
Good food for thought!
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