Military Dictatorship Here We Come!!!
Allowing President Bush to overrun the Posse Comitatus Act UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES should not be allowed. If you value freedom and democracy then this is the time to stand up and be an AMERICAN. We don't run from damn germs and allow millions who might NOT be infected to BECOME infected in some half-witted attempt at quarantine -- which is what it will because the MILITARY IS NOT A HEALTH ORGANIZATION. He is talking about putting teenagers with guns in charge of deciding if Citizens are sick. As I mentioned earlier in this blog -- judgment is one of the last things to form in the human brain. I already think we allow children to do too much without giving them proper training and discipline. Let's not give them orders to SHOOT TO KILL when a PANDEMIC threatens AMERICA. Damn, I can't be alone in this....
posted by The Film Diva at
11:30 AM
6 Comments:
You seem worried about Bush using the military to enforce a quarantine in the case of a pandemic that could kill millions.
Let me ask you something...
Do you approve of Eisenhower's decision to use the 101st Airborne to enforce desegregation in Little Rock AK in 1957?
If you say "yes", then you don't have a leg to stand on.
I think that you are confusing the use of Federal troops to enforce constitutional rights, with using Federal troops to handle a HEALTH emergency -- not sure how many legs I'd need to stand on for that one...
My point is that suspension of Posse Comitatus is not unprecedented, and I think protecting the population at large from an epidemic that could kill you or me or our loved ones is at least as important as constitutional rights.
After all, it's hard to enjoy constitutional rights if you're dead.
Well, I think the pandemic issue should be problem-solved by health professionals -- maybe some from areas that have dealt with epidemics and perhaps there should be a discussion of how necessary it would be to actually quarantine people.
I don't think that preventing human deaths from a flu bug is as important as the constitution. I wish I did, because then I wouldn't be feeling so agitated by your comments. I think there are things people ought to hold sacred. If you think the CONSTITUTION is not worth dying for, then you ought to move away from the REPUBLIC. The idea that anyone should be allowed to deploy the most insanely powerful military in the history of the planet to contain flu bugs is crazy to me. I think, as a global populace we've come up against a new problem -- how do we deal with humanitarian crises without militarizing them. I think we are up to the challenge of answering this question without resulting to Middle Age answers -- quarantines by military forces. I don't know what the answer really is, it doesn't sound like you or President Bush does either. I say we let HEALTH PROFESSIONALS (medical and psychological), LAW ENFORCEMENT (CIVILIAN NOT MIILITARY), sociologists and urban planners and that ilk problem-solve rather than dissolving more of the Constitution out of fear. I don't think it gets any simpler than that. There's a thin line between protection and fascism....
I don't think that preventing human deaths from a flu bug is as important as the constitution.
We're not talking about garden-variety "flu bug": this is a strain that has jumped species. Therefore, neither you nor I possess any natural immunity against it. The only way to contain it is to restrict the movement of people. When a legitimate threat to human life is facing a population such restrictions are necessary. There's no way around it.
If you think the CONSTITUTION is not worth dying for, then you ought to move away from the REPUBLIC.
Wow. A non-sequitur from a liberal. I'm astounded.
Nowhere did I even imply such a ridiculous notion. My idea of "dying for" the constitution involves repulsing an armed invasion by an enemy, not succumbing to a virulent strain of influenza.
You want local law enforcement to enforce a quarantine? Has it occured to you that some or many of the officers in an affected area may be infected as well? Military soldiers make sense because they can be brought in from areas not affected. And you can't bring police officers in from a non-affected area because that would deplete the police ranks of the city providing the officers.
50 million people died in the 1918 pandemic (caused by a bird flu strain), and that was without the benefit of jet travel. Quarantine may be "Middle Ages" but it's the only option unless an effective vaccine is produced. If that happens (and I hope it does) then our discussion will be rendered moot.
P.S. - For the record, I think your misgivings are more related to your obvious hatred and mistrust of Bush than to the quarantine idea itself.
Well, anonymous ranter, I hope you've got your own blog, because your incisive wisdom should not be wasted in the comments section of my obscure little piece of cyber-space. In answer to your points (and in no particular order):
1. I don't trust Bush to conjugate a damn verb properly. I think it's fair to say that his lack of leadership is disturbing. If you don't think so, I'm glad we're not roommates, but good luck to you with that.
2. re: nonsequitors -- This is my blog, if I choose to punch up a page of the phone book, heck, why not. I'm not writing a dissertation here, I'm expressing myself, however digressive that may be.
3. When YOU recite the pledge of allegiance I hope you remember it says Liberty, not GOOD HEALTH, or PROTECTION FROM VIRULENT STRAINS OF INFLUENZA. We don't provide universal healthcare, which is probably the frontline defense against bird flu since it will most likely start with folks who work with poultry and be spread by people who can't afford to go to the doctor when they first exhibit systems and will likely be walking around infecting everyone they come into contact with. I mean, how many times have you been out in public, at work, and been exposed to someone who is bucking for perfect attendance, or used up their damn sick days getting drunk, and won't stay home when they are coughing or sneezing? Who is to say this bug won't be spread on currency -- do you think they run those dollar bills through UV belts before they come out of the ATM?
I don't claim to have a solution, but in a healthy democracy people should speak up for what they believe in. You believe that if you are exposed to a deadly virus, or simply live in an area that's been "reported" as one (because we all know that between the liberal media and Homeland Security we are getting 100% accurate information, right?)you ought to be trapped there with folks who are DEFINITELY DYING. I wish you luck. I don't want to be trapped with sick people because I might be sick. I grew up in survivalist country, so trust that I'm capable of taking care of myself. If you aren't, get a clue, but I don't want to be stuck with your sick ass when the flu bug comes.
The point of not allowing the federal government to overrun the local and state military is to prevent the concentration of power in the hands of (the relatively smaller) branches of the Federal government, to allow the local populace to determine how they will do things, to encourage people to solve problems in different ways and to prevent protecting the few (wealthy) versus the many (middle class and poor). I'm not going to go point by point with you because I don't have the strength. Check out your representatives at the Federal level and let me know how many of them are living off of $50-60,000, a very generous view of the average American salary. Not many. OK, government employees, not elected officials, who are in positions of authority make six figure salaries. There a couple of whack jobs that pay less, but for the most part, the head of the military, the Secy of the Interior and all these other folks who woul be implementing these quarantines are freaking paid. Maybe you make lots of money, and like those folks in NOLA last month who hired their own private security and had helicopters, you aren't worried about getting shot by someone with a high fever. I'll accept that you live in a very different idealogical universe than I would ever want to visit.
4. As for what you are willing to die for, I can't speak to your values. I'm relatively principled. There are things in my life I wish I'd done differently, but I grew up in a miltary family (Semper Fi), in a military town and tend to have friends and associates from similar backgrounds. America isn't perfect, clearly you and I are worlds apart in our views on how the universe might be more perfect, but I think that if you aren't willing to die for what you believe in, that if the thought of catching the flu scares you so shitless you are willing to say "the hell with the constitution" than you have no honor. I realize this is harsh and fucked up, and, yes, I'm at least this hard on myself.
That said, it's interesting to me that you think not wanting the Feds to be MORE INTRUSIVE is a dang liberal value. In the Republican state I grew up in, folks wanted their guns, their vote and their money, in that order. I'm just so confused that so-called Republicans refuse to defend the idea of the Republic. Where do you think the money comes from to pay the military? Taxes. I'd rather pay money to doctors than Marines or soldiers and any military guy or gal who has served in a combat zone will tell you, they DO NOT want to shoot an American. It undermines the value system. You know, the whole swearing to defend against ENEMIES foreign and domestic, not flu bugs.
I've got family that works in the infectious disease field, so I'm waiting to hear what they have to say. Maybe I'll post something when I hear it. Meanwhile, I'm going to recommend you go buy one of those SARS face masks and some bleach, and stop eating chicken.
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