We have been discussing the disconnect between citizens who have repeatedly opposed continued rollbacks of civil liberties and the Democratic and Republican leadership pushing for such rollbacks, including the recent provision allowing indefinite detention of citizens under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 (NDAA). Now Montana citizens have decided to try another approach given the non-responsive attitude of our leaders — they are moving to remove their two Senators from office over their votes in favor of indefinite detention powers.
Montana is one of nine states with recall laws. The other states are Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wisconsin. Eighteen states have recall laws, but most do not apply to federal officers.
Montana Code 2-16-603, on the grounds of physical or mental lack of fitness, incompetence, violation of oath of office, official misconduct, or conviction of certain felony offenses.
Presumably, they are arguing that voting for an unconstitutional measure that allows for indefinite detention of citizens constitutes both a violation of the oath of office and incompetence. Usually official misconduct does not include policy differences, though voting for potentially authoritarian powers would not be viewed as good conduct in a free nation.
The move by the Montana votes shows something that I found in doing speeches around the country: there is no difference in red and blue states in citizens (1) fed up with our current two-party monopoly and dysfunctional politics and (2) opposed to the loss of civil liberties in this country. This should be the time when civil liberties groups are pushing aggressively, but many are divided in their willingness to oppose Obama — a problem that has existed since the early days of his Administration when he tacked hard to the right on national security laws. These politicians, including Obama, have long made the cynical calculation that civil libertarians have no where to go politically and that votes continue to be motivated by party allegiance and the appeal of personalities. These Montana voters are trying to show that they are wrong.
Source: Daily Kos
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Hello! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new iphone 4! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the excellent work!
Dear Montanians,and other Americans who can read, Get this,listen good, When the Chinese,and the Russians are rolling their armored vehicles down our highways,and freeways,and city streets,then!,yes only then! will these lackeys be converted, if they live, for before they come rolling in here,they will have softened us up some,with bombing, yea,real serious bombing,the Nuclear kind,then they’ll kill,everything and break things,thats what they do! mercy is not in their training! they are very hard, and very good at what they do, they are sharks circleling,they smell blood and they are coming,make no mistake,our leadership has thrown us under the bus for the sake of a nice hot tub and some promise that will not be delivered, remember Haman, Purim, and his ten sons. after they’re here for a while,they’ll take you and make you a slave,tear your families apart,send you overseas,cracking rocks into little rocks or whatever conquerers do to those they’ve conquered, it will be the children who save us,who bring this country back, they will have a zeal for the Lord,and do what must be done.
I suggest you prepare to help them when that time comes, get ready, it will be like it was 250 years ago, no power,gas, just blood sweat and tears, plan accordingly. read up on the old ways of doing things, hurry up,cause their isn’t much time left with things the way they are. Good luck, God bless you, and keep you,and pray alot.
Liberal, Quaker (so, a pacifist, of course.), ex-Obama volunteer and voter here!
The man I voted for in 2008 has assumed that he has the right to take away ALL of our Civil Rights. If you get assassinated on President’s orders, your rights being gone is the least of your problems.
*When you “disappear” your rights are gone..and so, of course, are you.* Just. Gone.
Here’s the thing, Congress didn’t DECLARE WAR on any country or group of people. The entire premise is flawed. Military action was all under the control of the President, or if the President is weak, control is taken by the Military Industrial Complex. No Congress approval of a Formal Declaration of War= Unconstitutional= Illegitimate war=illegitimate martial law. They have built on some very bad precedents and the results are untenable. It has to stop.
Does the thought of some of Dr. Paul’s ideas appall me? Sure. I’m Liberal and a Quaker; you know that means that I want to make sure that everyone is taken care of.
But, that is something both sides can discuss after we’ve regained control of our corrupt and runaway government.
Ron Paul is who I am voting for this year, even if I have to write him in. Many people that I know are doing the same. This is a man with principles that has 30 years of history to prove it.
If we are careening toward a cliff, a hard change in direction is needed. Details can be worked out later. But, I don’t consider Human Rights as a detail.
It’s kinda the whole point of this Democracy-Republic experiment we’ve had going on here, for the last 200+ years. (Remember, Politics aren’t supposed to BE Big Business.)
It boggles the mind that we, as a nation have sunk so low.
They came for the Iraqis, but I wasn’t Iraqi, so I said nothing.(very little) Then, they came for the Americans that happened to be Muslim, but I said very little because I am not an American Muslim. Then they came after ANY Americans that protested and I started paying attention to what was going on.
That’s not a Government for the People OR by the People, in my opinion.
That has to change.
And the one on the left was on the right and the one on the right was in the middle and the one in the middle was on the left and the guy in the rear was played banjo for the OWS.
For Gods sake……No for “OUR” sake wake up and smell the freaking coffee, they’re all crooked, now what other choice do we have? Do you really feel comfortable allowing someone else to make decisions that affect your life and the lives of those whom you care about? If so whom do you trust to say which chemicals you have to eat as the result of Uncle Sam appointing the Surgeon General who is the nephew of the CEO of DOW Chemical (or whoever, you get my point) What I’ve read here makes you all sound like a bunch of twits with a paper ass-holes farting fireballs.
The only thing necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing…-Thomas Paine.
In two years when the economy is better and you’re all working again and rolling in the proverbial dough, John Q Public will stand up and say “Hey! A little help over here, this congressman’s son hit my parked car while driving drunk and they’re trying to cover it up.” ….and you will once again (just like 10 years ago) say, “Gee that’s to bad but I can’t rock the boat, I work for the Dept of Public Works and I might lose my job if I get involved.”
1zb1,
you lack common sense and logic to figure out who is corrupt and what the problems are
your opinions arent beneficial to the American citizens that believe in freedom and independence
ams,
you are spot on. keep up the good fight
Jaden, your comment is meaningless but unlike AMS at least you kept it short.
Ironic that SU quoted Lincoln who himself suspended habeus corpus.
Let me try to summerize a sense of the nonsense that has been posted on this site:
Many seem to claim they are far left liberals but are voting for the far right liberterian Ron Paul; many seem to think Obama is the devil (at least when it comes to civil liberties); most think if you don’t believe everybody is a nazi your an idiot or stupid or ‘don’t get it”; many seem to feel Ron Paul is bad on every issue but he supports your idea of civil liberty so he is preferable; no one can identify a period in American History when civil liberteries were better then they are now; some claim the tea party and the OWS are actually more or less the same; most seem to be clueless about what the constitution actually says (let alone what it means or why); no one actually has any real suggestion how to achieve any improvement other then to vote for Ron Paul or ban together (I think some people might call that a form of political party) even though all political parties are the same; some people even suggest I am a “plant”
I could go on but the bottom line is you all have the freedom to say such nonsense. You even have the freedom to believe that nonsense. And guess what, you even have the freedom to delude yourself that what you are doing is standing up for other people’s freedom.
But in the real world, know this: your kind of nonsense voted for Ralph Nader and we all know what that result was. Now you may think both parties are the same but there is a pretty good chance that if we had a different President we would have had a different supreme court which means maybe we would not have corporate money running our elections to quite the same degree right now; we might not have spent 10 years, a trillion dollars and thousands of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians in Iraq; we might not have had those tax cuts for the wealthy and the giant deficits that followed; and we might have had a very different way of dealing with 911.
So you people who claim to be on the far left but think all parties are the same; all candidates are the same keep arguing that Ron Paul, the far right so called liberterian candidate is your choice. And come November you just go ahead and vote for him or stay home and that way you can keep telling yourself how the world sucks and only you get it.
You keep living in that delusion just as as long as you like.
And so their is absolutely no mistake about it, I am a “plant”. I was put here by my own stupidity to waste my time with a touch or reality for many of the rest of you. As I have said elsewhere here.
“I am completely unapologetic for Obama (unlike some here). I will support him without reservation. Given reality I believe he has done an amazing job (and sometimes even brilliant such as dealing with the debt hostage crisis) and outfoxed the Repulbican/Tparty nut cases time and again. [and the reality of the world as it is instead of the one we would like]
I believe we are in the midst of the second fighting of the Civil War. That’s my pet issue. We either have hope for the future with Obama and the Democrats (as imperfect as that may be) or we take a giant step onto the dark ages with the likes of Ron Paul and the Republican/Tparty whack jobs.
So maybe my question for you and some of the others is not about your outrage with Obama over your pet issue to the exclusion of everything else, but where is your outrage with what Republicans have done and what they say they will do in the future, including Ron Paul?
But really, don’t bother yourself answering that. It was meant rhetorically. Your simplified grasp of everything about reality and the constitution would make it rather meaningless.”
If it is any plants here it is many of you who are actually claiming to be liberals when what you really represent is the far right.
All this BS It’s time for all Americans to fight for our country, OUR COUNTRY I say and it will happen, It’s in forward momentum and there is no stopping it. I don’t wish for this to happen, but unfortunately It will. So Stand together, Family, Friends, Neighbors and Stand Ready, Stand United, The United States of America we are.
“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.”
-Abraham Lincoln
That bill is wrong and everyone that signed it. It’s our time again.
Charge!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.”
-Abraham Lincoln
Words from a true American Leader