Why Is There Apathy Towards Executive Orders Allowing For Secret “Kill Lists?” | Peace . Gold . Liberty

Why Is There Apathy Towards Executive Orders Allowing For Secret “Kill Lists?”

Submitted by McWilly on Wed, 12/12/2012 - 15:25

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{Editor’s Note: This is the 20th installment of a series of articles attempting to address the 32 questions posed by Ron Paul in his recent farewell speech given in front of Congress. Check out the previous installment, Why Can’t People Understand That War Always Destroys Wealth And Liberty? }

Let me begin this installment by addressing the issue that has spawned the most egregious savaging of Liberty since the founding of the United States: the power of the President and the enabling of Executive Orders and Executive Privilege. We covered this earlier here, but allow me to share this excerpt from that earlier article:

The growth in power that the Executive Branch has experienced cannot be blamed upon a single individual, institution, or group. Responsibility for the vast power the President wields in US politics can be equally attributed to congress, each President, the Judicial Branch, the media, and the people of the United States. Blame should be assigned to Congress for ceding their legislative authority and also to the Presidents that have abused their power through use of executive privilege, executive orders, and waging of war without a Congressional declaration. The Supreme Court is at fault for affirming the power of these powers ceded to the Executive Branch. The media has aided the growth in power by creating a national narrative which depicts the Executive Branch as the originator and executor of legislation. Lastly, the people have allowed the balance of power to be distorted beyond recognition by not holding our electing official accountable to the Constitution.

The authors of the Constitution intended the Executive Branch to be the executor of policies legislated by Congress. The Constitution assigned certain prerogatives to each branch for a reason and did not define the role of the Executive Branch to include competition with the Legislative Branch in molding policy. This becomes especially relevant when discussing the Executive Branch’s abuse of power when claiming the power of executive privilege.

Having provided the background on Executive Orders/Privilege in broad strokes, let’s get down to brass tacks and tackle Obama’s secret “Kill Lists” and the general apathy and lack of outrage from the general populace in America. Long story short, one of the basic tenants of the Bill of Rights guaranteed to every citizen via the 6th Amendment is the Right to Fair Trial and a Notice of Pending Criminal Charges. Additionally, the right to a public trial is included as well as the right to a trial by an impartial jury. Obama’s secret kill lists, first created in 2010 according to this NY Times piece, bypass all of those basic rights provided to Americans. By assassinating American citizens abroad via drone strike, as he did with the recent assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born militant preacher with alleged al Qaeda connections, Obama is skipping the rights that any citizen is promised, regardless of their status as a “terrorist” or not. The Obama Administration will argue that capturing him would be too much of a risk to our troops, cost too much money, etc., but what if this man was innocent? What if there were mitigating circumstances? He was murdered without having a chance to defend himself. And this could happen to any of us – maybe it is a case of mistaken identity that ends in tragedy, but because of the nature of these secret kill lists, it will always be too late if action is taken. Americans are being killed without notice of their crime, without a chance to defend themselves in a court of law; sentenced to death by a panel of judges assigned and overseen by a president who should never have such power.

SO...Why Is There Apathy Towards Executive Orders Allowing For “Kill Lists?”

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My family is full of neo-cons

Submitted by awl19 on Wed, 12/12/2012 - 20:22. Permalink

I told them about the clause in the NDAA that allows for indefinite detention and no trial and they justified it by saying if the govermment deems someone a terrorist then they are a terrorist. It's hard to defeat that kind of blind loyalty.

Because Status Quobama

Submitted by IN Sculptor for... on Wed, 12/12/2012 - 16:12. Permalink

is a democrat.

When democrats kill and wage war it is KOOL.

Remember Bill "Cruise Missle" Clinton? Goddamn, he LOVED to blow people sky high. Wasn't it like a cruise missle every three (3) days on average through his administration? (Like playin' Missle Command on Atari(TM) while gettin' his d*ck suckie suck on by Lady Lewinski.)

D'OH!

people are tired, half brain dead

Submitted by ConstitutionHugger on Wed, 12/12/2012 - 15:57. Permalink

and conditioned to not think about politics because the government is frustratingly unresponsive. They've given up without realizing what they have given up on: our entire nation and everything it stands for.