Popular Blog Archives - Civil Liberties and Majority Rule

What do blog readers search for in the archives of my blog when it comes to finding out about their government protects them? Here are links to a couple of posts that drew some of the few comments that people make at S/SW.

• Civil liberties have staying power in the long run- 12/31/05. Around the end of last year Americans found out from the New York Times that their government had been operating a warrantless domestic surveillance program. And here it is September of the next year, and the question remains just about as "hot." Last year, the government promptly launched a criminal investigation into the newspaper's publication of the information. I wrote at that time that,

  The year 2005 marked the year that the nation began to wake up to what is going on with the erosion of protection of citizen's civil liberties. The NSA story was one instance of this awakening. The proposed renewal of the US Patriot Act has been another. Republican leaders may have expected that the legislation would be passed without question, but there were enough votes to hold it up, despite threats from our current president. (Regarding the president's "inherent powers") . . . This matter is by no means over. When Congress comes back from their holiday recess, I fully expect there to be hearings with many questions for the administration from thoughtful lawmakers.

• Civil liberties remain at risk - 8/5/06. Last month I returned to the civil liberties issue, and readers were again very interested in the subject. A news roundup showed that there is still hope because there has been so much "pushback" from our institutions that serve as a check on the executive branch of government. At the same time, it is impossible for me to understand how anyone can think that keeping the country safe cannot coexist with protecting citizen civil liberties. It is a dangerous and false dichotomy, designed to justify our current president's repeated power grabs. I sincerely hope that voters can see through this when casting their ballots in November.

• Majority rule can sorely hamper - 6/30/06. This post was written the day after the Hamdan decision came down from the Supreme Court. That narrow majority decision was so very heartening to those of us who believe that our current president is bound by the rule of law, just like everyone else. In this case the majority rule helped, rather than hampered. My post summarized a few other significant majority decisions that have had influence over our lives. To quote:

  A momentous decision by the majority more often sets the minority back on its heels. Look at these examples of 21st century (majority rule) events:
  
  * The Iraq elections put Sunni representatives in the minority, sorely hampering that segment of the population's hopes for a stake in the nation's future.
  * The 2000 U.S. presidential election SCOTUS ruling in favor of Republicans has sorely hampered Democrats ever since.
  * A majority of votes in the Electoral College for Bush in 2004 continued imperial rule of OCP (our current president), sorely hampering the rule of law.
  * The recent election of a Hamas government in Palestine sorely hampered the chances of a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, now boiling out of control.
  * The recent SCOTUS redistricting decision to let most of Tom DeLay's Texas' U.S. House gerrymandering maneuvers remain in place; Texas Democrats remain sorely hampered. The state must now find its way out of the mess.
  * Tuesday's flag-burning constitutional amendment loss (by one vote in the Senate) sorely hampers the religious right's plans to distract the nation from its real problems with a pseudo-issue.
  
  Majority rule is a principle of democracy. Sometimes it works to my advantage and sometimes to my disadvantage. I remain grateful to live in this democracy, though sometimes my hopes flag. Today my hopes for the future of our nation under the rule of law are unflagging! I feel somewhat less "sorely hampered."

The Majority rules in a democracy. Come November, officials will be elected because they got the most votes. The U.S. Constitution fixed that ruling method for us. A number of other laws make majority rule tolerable for the minority. These include provisions instituting checks and balances shared amongst the three branches of government. When we see the heart-breaking struggles of Iraq to govern itself, it reinforces how lucky we are to have such strong institutions, that snap back when stretched too far. I await November for additional needed adjustments.

Tags: Bush Blog events law civil liberties politics News