Get the Warlock* out of the Whitehouse
Oct. 25th, 2004 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
capri0mniThis is the message I posted to my local paper's online Guestbook. The people posting there support Kerry at about 3 to 1. The posts to the paper's bulletin boards are more in favor of Bush. I was originally going to post this there, instead, but the registration for those boards seems to have gone kerfuffle. So... anyway. At least it will be online, once it gets past the monitor.
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President Bush is an oathbreaker. On January 20, 2000, he put his left hand on the Bible, raised his right hand, and spoke the following oath:
"I, George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear 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. So help me God."
The First Amendment of that Constitution goes like this:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
And yet, throughout this campaign, the organizers of the Republican National Committee, have hired local and state police to act as bouncers at Bush/Cheney rallies, from Portland, Oregon, to Des Moines, Iowa, threatening dissenters with arrest and worse. This story from The Citizen's Voice, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania this last Friday, really takes the cake, however.
An American soldier, and registered Republican, soon to be deployed in Iraq, was an undecided voter, and was hoping that if he could see his president speak it would inspire him and clarify his choice, so he bought a ticket to the event. That was until he witnessed the man beside him being put through a "police search," being asked to remove his jacket, sweater and other clothing, which, the soldier said, he did peaceably.
When the soldier spoke up for this stranger, he, too, was asked by the police to leave, being told his name wasn't on a "master list" that he was not allowed to see for himself, even though the event was supposedly open to undecided voters (and how would an undecided voter's name be on the list, anyway -- and if it were, doesn't it bother you at least a little bit, that party bigwigs are tracking your private views, even before you get to the polls? What the heck happened to the idea of a secret ballot?).
This behavior is a direct violation of the Constitutionally protected rights to gather peaceably and petition our leaders. If the Democrat or the soldier had not been peaceable -- if they had been harassing the other attendees, or had been impeding their entry into the event, then the police would have had every right (indeed, even the obligation) to arrest them, and escort them from the venue. But neither of them were.
The President took an oath to *protect* and *defend* the Constitution to the best of his ability. His tacit endorsement of this behavior does just the opposite, setting a dangerous precedent. If the Presidential Oath is to mean anything, if the name of God is to mean anything, he must be held accountable.
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*Or, as it was spelled in Middle English, "Wearloghe" -- which means oath-breaker.
(Cross-posted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
johnkerry04
---
President Bush is an oathbreaker. On January 20, 2000, he put his left hand on the Bible, raised his right hand, and spoke the following oath:
"I, George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear 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. So help me God."
The First Amendment of that Constitution goes like this:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
And yet, throughout this campaign, the organizers of the Republican National Committee, have hired local and state police to act as bouncers at Bush/Cheney rallies, from Portland, Oregon, to Des Moines, Iowa, threatening dissenters with arrest and worse. This story from The Citizen's Voice, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania this last Friday, really takes the cake, however.
An American soldier, and registered Republican, soon to be deployed in Iraq, was an undecided voter, and was hoping that if he could see his president speak it would inspire him and clarify his choice, so he bought a ticket to the event. That was until he witnessed the man beside him being put through a "police search," being asked to remove his jacket, sweater and other clothing, which, the soldier said, he did peaceably.
When the soldier spoke up for this stranger, he, too, was asked by the police to leave, being told his name wasn't on a "master list" that he was not allowed to see for himself, even though the event was supposedly open to undecided voters (and how would an undecided voter's name be on the list, anyway -- and if it were, doesn't it bother you at least a little bit, that party bigwigs are tracking your private views, even before you get to the polls? What the heck happened to the idea of a secret ballot?).
This behavior is a direct violation of the Constitutionally protected rights to gather peaceably and petition our leaders. If the Democrat or the soldier had not been peaceable -- if they had been harassing the other attendees, or had been impeding their entry into the event, then the police would have had every right (indeed, even the obligation) to arrest them, and escort them from the venue. But neither of them were.
The President took an oath to *protect* and *defend* the Constitution to the best of his ability. His tacit endorsement of this behavior does just the opposite, setting a dangerous precedent. If the Presidential Oath is to mean anything, if the name of God is to mean anything, he must be held accountable.
----
*Or, as it was spelled in Middle English, "Wearloghe" -- which means oath-breaker.
(Cross-posted to
johnkerry04
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-10-25 04:20 pm (UTC)I've decided more than anything that this upcoming election is all about rights. You've got people who want to reduce the rights of the citizens (Bush, the folks behind Ohio's Issue One) and you've got folks who are opposed to such actions (Kerry, most everyone in power in Ohio who are opposed to Issue One). I'm voting for the people/issues that do not reduce the rights of the citizens, ANY citizens.
“They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben "Jammin'" Franklin
no subject
Date: 2004-10-25 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-25 06:49 pm (UTC)(I love that <3 symbol - it could be a heart, but it could be a mouse. :-)
no subject
Date: 2004-10-25 06:53 pm (UTC)And Sylv is awesome :D I need to make a Sylv layout >>;
indeed.
Date: 2004-10-25 08:43 pm (UTC)(I noticed, after this messege appeared in the guestbook, that I gave George Bush one more year in office than was warranted [and I read through and edited the piece about 3 times]. I thought about posting a correction, but thought better of it. The essential truth remains the same).