Less Change, Even Less Hope

A few weeks ago, when I learned of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, I made a fairly bold statement.  Of course, I did it via Twitter, so it was lost in a sea of dick and fart jokes, as well as updates like “making dinner and watching American Horror Story!” Suffice to say, it’s not like it hit the twitterscape…verse…osphere with the resounding hydrogen bomb-level explosion I’d hoped.

The tweet itself was:

Hey, @barackobama, if you have the opportunity and don’t veto the National Defense Authorization Act, I’m not voting for you again.  Really.

I said it, and I meant it.  Of course, I tweeted the President directly, which is the most sure-fire way to ensure that he won’t see it.  I certainly didn’t expect the tweet to be picked up as national news, posted all over the place, and for people to contact me requesting interviews about my bold proclamation regarding my choice in terms of participatory democratic government.  And they haven’t.

So, I made this statement, and I meant it, but I kind of figured that, at the time, there’s no way our buddy President Obama would actually sign the NDAA without first forcing congress to override his veto. At the time I tweeted that, Jay Carney and President Obama were both saying that they would not accept the language in that bill.

It’s time to take a mini time out to explain what I find so appalling about this bill.  I’d love to give you a rundown of every section of the bill, but holy fuck, that thing is long.  That thing is like, deforest the entire taiga in Northern Canada to print two copies of that bill long. I sat down and searched for the full text of the bill, thinking “Hey, I’ll be a good civic minded person and give this bill a once-through, start to finish.”  The problem with that is, by the time I finish reading this fucker, President Obama will have already been re-elected (defeated?) and President Santorum (Ew. For both his policies and what happens when you google Santorum.  Ew.) is gearing up for his reelection run.  I did the two finger scroll on my macbook pro multiple times, and the thing wasn’t even a sixteenth of the way through.  It’s so long, Adobe Acrobat Reader won’t even give me a page count.

So, the section I take issue with is section 1021 of the bill.  The first section under the “Counterterrorism” subheading.  Of course it all comes back to counterterrorism. I’d love to give you a good understanding of what’s in the bill, but it’s in legalese.  I can’t understand a fucking word in this stupid bill.  But, from what I gather, the section is designed to allow the President to indefinitely detain people on US Soil under Military Authority for suspected ties to terrorist activities, including US Citizens.

I’m stupid, and I have a public school education in terms of civics and U.S. Government, most of which occurred before September the 11th, 2001.  In fact, all of my civics lessons and basic understanding of the US Government came before September 11th, 2001.  I took the New York State Regents examination in U.S. History and Government, and I got a 96 on it.  I also own a copy of “The Siege” on DVD.  It’s two and a half stars out of four.  Suffice to say, even an idiot like me knows that Habeas Corpus exists.  It’s the backbone of our anti-tyrannical laws.  This is, pretty much, the EXACT GOD DAMNED THING we wanted to avoid with regard to oppressive governments and ruthless dictatorships!

Writs of Habeas Corpus demand that we be charged after being detained, and that our detention cannot be indefinite.  That’s the exact opposite of what this bill says.  I feel like Shephard Smith, slamming my hand on the table and screaming “We are America, we do not fucking torture!”, only I’m saying “We are the United States of America.  We do not indefinitely detain without a trial by a jury of our peers!”  When what is being taught in 7th grade classrooms around the country as the fundamental basis of our system of law, order, and jurisprudence is being completely and utterly revoked based on “counterterrorism,” we are heading down the wrong path.  This is exactly what kept me awake at night.

I used to imagine that I didn’t live in the United States, and I used to imagine that I was someone who was indefinitely detained by my government.  It would set my heart to racing, and I would be unable to get back to sleep.  This is when I was ten or eleven years old.  I think I even voiced some type of concern to my parents, and my father, a dyed in the wool conservative, assured me that nothing like that could ever happen here, because we have a system of checks and balances to prevent the federal government from ever violating our rights like that.

So, here we are.  President Obama has said that his administration will not use section 1021.  Well, Cameron Frye told his father he’d never drive the Ferrari GT California.  He didn’t.  Ferris did.  So, President Obama, just because you won’t use it doesn’t mean some other asshole won’t either.  People have openly mocked the notion of dangerous precedents and slippery slopes in these trying times of narrowing civil liberties following the 9/11 terror attacks.  Many people say, “If you’ve got nothing to worry about, then what’s the matter?”

That type of thinking is what gets us to a place where we only consider ourselves, and no one else.  As long as we’re okay, who cares what happens to our neighbors?  What happens when another bill comes along that further restricts our civil liberties, or does put us in the crosshairs?  Who will stand up at that point?

I realize this all seems a bit reactionary, and looks like a whole lot of neo-liberal histrionics.  It is.  But it’s been a long time coming.  President Obama has been a failure thus far.  Matt Damon and I agree.  I kind of feel like growing a beard like Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting, and telling Matt that it’s not his fault until he starts crying. Then I’d start crying, too.  But, that’s mostly because I’d want to hug a sobbing Matt Damon.  I bet his tears smell fantastic.

So far, in President Obama’s administration, we’ve had a financial crisis that was responded to by the president with… uhh… well, a drastic overhaul of the healthcare system that… served to keep it privatized, and force people to buy insurance.  That’s not really all that good.  It’s better than before, but it ain’t great.  There was no attempt at single-payer.  We’ve had numerous capitulations, no attempt to bring the tenor and argument to his side of the aisle.  Everything has been on the terms of the Republicans. He has been ineffective as a leader at best. Worse, the things we hoped for, financial reform and more income equality have all fallen by the wayside. Occupy Wall Street served to put income inequality into the mouths of newscasters despite not openly stating that’s what they were about.  And, yet, nothing from the White House.  No attempt to allow the Bush Tax Cuts expire.  Just more and more extensions of the tax cuts while the recession gets worse.

So, yes, this is histrionics and a temper tantrum, but this is also a response to the first three years of President Obama.  And, I’m serious.  I’ve had nearly a month to think about the ramifications of my tweet, which almost no one saw, and even less cared about.  But, I’m really, truly, not voting for Barack Obama again.  Of course, I am in no way going to vote for the Republican candidate, unless someone named Smill Flinton shows up, looking exactly like Bill Clinton wearing those glasses with the furry eyebrows, the comically oversized nose, and the obviously fake mustache, and wins the Republican nomination for President.  Though, I think that’d be so freaking awesome if that happened.  He could be President AND the Mets manager at the same time!

Democrats who say they aren’t going to vote for Obama based on his performance will likely be told in the Media as “Democrats fleeing Obama” and told as though they are voting Republican.  In my case, I’m not voting for Obama because he hasn’t been liberal enough for me.  Fox News would have you believe that I’m a crazy, left of center neoliberal Democratic Socialist.  So?  That’s me. Not everyone.

So, what happens if President Obama signs a law that supersedes section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012?  It’s too late.  The fact that he was willing to sign a patently unconstitutional bill into law because “he liked more of it than he didn’t” shows me his principles are shot.  I’m sorry.  I can’t go along with this ineffective President any more.  I can sleep at night knowing that no one gives a shit, and my one vote won’t change anything, for or against Obama. Freakonomics proved that!

I have one symbolic vote for President.  I wasted it once.  Knowing what I know now, I’d still waste that vote on President Obama, because I believed that he was the leader this country needed.  I no longer believe that, and I no longer believe that he can be an effective leader for our country. I think I’ll write in a vote for Bernie Sanders, or maybe take a look at the Green Party’s candidate, but not this President.

A wise man once said, “Fool me once, shame on… shame on you.  A fool… fool can’t get fooled again.”  I think agree, but my head hurts.