Psyche, Science, and Society

Olbermann on the day America became a dictatorship

October 18th, 2006

Yesterday, 800 years of Anglo-Saxon freedom ended. The President signed a law giving him authority to imprison anyone, anyone, solely on his word. Imprison them forever. Everywhere I go I look for some sign that people realize what they’ve acceded to. But I don’t seen it. If I talk about it, people quickly yawn and turn to the latest gossip. Two people who noticed are Keith Olbermann and Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley on Olbermann’s showe. Thanks to to Crooks and Liars, you can still watch them.

Turley: “People have no idea how significant this is. Really a time of shame this is for the American system.—The strange thing is that we have become sort of constitutional couch potatoes. The Congress just gave the President despotic powers and you could hear the yawn across the country as people turned to Dancing With the Stars. It’s otherworldly..People clearly don’t realize what a fundamental change it is about who we are as a country. What happened today changed us. And I’m not too sure we’re gonna change back anytime soon.”

Olbermann ends his discussion with Turley with: “I’ll see you at Gitmo.” Unfortunately, he may not be joking. Can one really believe that Bush, and succeeding Presidents, will restrain from using these dictatorial powers against domestic opponents? Anyone who thinks that is oblivious to history.

Also watch, via YouTubes, Olbermann’s October 10 comments on Habaeas Corpus and what it means for the Bill of Rights. [Hint: The Bill of Rights becomes the Bill of Right]:

Entry Filed under: Constitutional Law, Electoral Politics, Guantanamo, International Law, Law, Politics, Rights and Liberties, Social Issues, Torture, War Crimes