The Trouble With Frist

2006-03-13T08:22:00.000-08:00

Senator Russ Feingold calls for censure of President Bush and draws criticism from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

"He is wrong, he is dead wrong," said the Tennessee Republican – also a potential presidential candidate in 2008 – adding that "attacking our commander in chief... doesn’t make sense."

"We are right now at an unprecedented war where they really want to take us down," he said.

"A censure resolution... is wrong. It sends a signal around the world."

"The American people are solidly behind this president in conducting the war on terror."

Senator Frist seems to forget, among other things, that the approval rating for President Bush is the lowest it has ever been, not to mention sympathy for the American plight following the initial rush of angst and anger following September 11th has dwindled drastically due to our Commander-in-Chief’s foreign policy.

America is caught between being the world’s watchdog and whipping dog. If someone needs help, they call us, if they need a scapegoat, we are blamed, however, if you believe a president should be given unlimited power to use as he sees fit during a time of war then I urge you to read the meanings of "representative democracy," "republic," "oligarchy," and especially "totalitarian dictatorship."

When you move the power from the people, or in the case of America, from the people elected to represent the people, to the hands of a few or one, you are breaking down the democracy and heading into dangerous territory.

As our world changes, as the threats to our lives change, so must we. But there must be a point where we tell our government it must stop infringing upon the rights of its citizens, it must stop infringing upon the rights guaranteed under International Law, it must stop setting a bad example.

There must be a line drawn between national security and citizens’ rights, otherwise, we are not America and have not learned from our mistakes and those of other countries. Our government is supposed to be a series of checks and balances yet they are being circumvented, ignored, justified, and rationalized by a continuous arousal of post-9/11 paranoia.

That paranoia is better served to block of the sale of U.S. ports to Taliban sympathizers. Do not justify the UAE right to control part of our ports since they are supposed to be one our biggest allies in the Middle East. As I recall, the Bush Administration has strong ties to the Saudi government and that did not stop several of their nationals from crashing planes into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and the Pennsylvania countryside without retribution from our military.

As for Frist’s assertion that we are sending a bad signal to the world, perhaps it is time the world once again sees America as a leader against governmental abuses instead of perpetuating them.

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The Trouble With Frist