President's Role

Two quotes from the President's speech today in Cleveland (I think) as broadcast on CNN.

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"But also understand my most important job - the most important job of any president today, and, uh, I predict down the road, is to protect America. And so, uh, I told the American people that we would find the terrorists and bring them to justice and that we need to defeat them overseas so that we didn't need to face them at home."

"I take a practical view of doing the job you want me to do, which is how do we defeat an enemy that still wants to hurt us, and how do we deal with threats before they fully materialize, what do we do to protect us from harm? That's my job, and that job came home on September 11 for me loud and clear. I think about my job of protecting you every day, every single day of the presidency. I'm concerned about the safety of the American people."

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Two things come to mind when I first see this. First of all, what IS the role of the President of the United States? Is it solely "to protect this country"? The Presidential Oath as written in the Constitution claims:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

There is a great irony in what the President is doing to protect this country and its people from the so claimed vast threat of terrorism. In claiming that it is his job as president, he has repeatedly trampled on our rights as written in the Constitution. A perfect example of this is the warantless wiretapping program. Or how about the various questionable portions of the Patriot Act? This should be disturbing to Americans regardless of political party; a President who abuses his power, openly admits and defends his actions, and then tramples on our constitutional rights based on this "justification". I think our founding fathers are turning over in their graves.

The second thought that comes to mind is the rule through fear. Our President constantly defends his actions through the fear of terrorism. "Its ok for me to do what I'm doing, because if I don't, the terrorists will get us." And because of this fear that's been instilled into us, we've accepted and let slide the numerous violations of our rights by this government. What's worse is that those that dare speak out against this, like Russ Feingold and his censure resoluation, are called not only unpatriotic but "borderline treasonous" by their colleagues. What have we come to that those who dare question the powerful are called traitors?

Two quotes come to mind from the famous Edward R. Murrow, who was as great a patriot as we have seen in this century.

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men— not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular....We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."

and...

"If we confuse dissent with disloyalty— if we deny the right of the individual to be wrong, unpopular, eccentric or unorthodox— if we deny the essence of racial equality then hundreds of millions in Asia and Africa who are shopping about for a new allegiance will conclude that we are concerned to defend a myth and our present privileged status. Every act that denies or limits the freedom of the individual in this country costs us the ... confidence of men and women who aspire to that freedom and independence of which we speak and for which our ancestors fought."

Considering these were from the fifties and during the time where fear of communism ruled, its amazing how relevant they are today.