Does NDAA really allow for American citizens to be detained indefinitely with no trial? This legislation is so difficult to understand, so controversial, that I decided I simply had to do the research myself.
NDAA is the National Defense Authorization Act. This year, it includes language that can easily be interpreted to mean: American citizens can be detained indefinitely without a trial, on the grounds of being a suspected terrorist. No trial? Imprisoned on suspicion? Even for foreigners this is un-American and unconscionable.
Here is a Timeline for the passage of NDAA:
November 2011 – Congressman Rand Paul issues a statement warning about the passage of NDAA and its potential ramifications: click here. Watch the entire 13 minutes.
New Year’s Eve – Congress and President Obama sign NDAA into law. You can find it here. If you can read this in its entirety in less than a day, you are superhuman.
New Year’s Eve – President Obama issues this letter to accompany his decision to sign NDAA into law. Click here. Read this in its entirety as well.
January 2012 – Many patriots, including myself, go bonkers over the careless whittling away of our inalienable rights as Americans.
Jan 30 2012 – I decide that I simply must run for office. My conscience requires it. Between NDAA and the 4 billion dollars we borrow every day, I hear my call to serve. I join the Libertarian Party and begin the process of acquiring the nomination to run against my own Representative, here in Texas District 25, Lloyd Doggett.
Feb. 7, 2012 – I receive a letter from the very congressman I intend to unseat saying that “The NDAA in no way revokes a citizen’s right to habeas corpus.”
This letter prompted my in-depth research into the bill. Now I’m even more irritated with my congress person. People are so mad at him, that apparently enough of his constituents wrote to him to demand an explanation for his vote for NDAA. (Yea! people – I’m so happy to know that people are paying attention and writing to their congress people.) My congressman is aware that this vote could spell his political demise, and he’s defending himself. The problem remains however, that this legislation is highly interpretable, even to the point of Obama needing to issue a statement saying that HIS administration would never detain American citizens without a trial. He even calls the provisions that Rand Paul had argued to strike from the bill “Unnecessary.”
Congressman Paul argued before congress that they should strike these provisions that put our very liberties into question. But instead of striking them, both Congress and the President signed them into law, with the president issuing a statement that the provisions were unnecessary. Yes, I just repeated myself. Because I simply can’t believe it. These provisions are unnecessary, but they passed them anyway. And then, my very own culpable congressman writes me, his constituent, a letter which states that the law he signed in no way revokes our right to habeas corpus and that he will “continue to work to defend our Constitutional rights.”
Well, my beloved readers and friends, it’s too late. Even if he actually believes what he is saying, I’ve thrown my hat in the ring. I am officially seeking the Libertarian nomination to be its candidate to the House of Representatives for Texas District 25. Legislation shouldn’t be this difficult to understand.
If you want another, more in-depth discussion of the language in NDAA, check out this article. For even more, check out this one.
There’s a lot I could say here. About how I’m a homeschool mom and the decision to run was difficult to make. I love my little happy life. But I want to retain liberty for my grandkids even more than I want to retain my idyllic life.
Check out the Libertarian Party. On the whole, we stand for limited government, individual freedom, and personal responsibility. I can’t even begin to describe the profound way in which I resonate with the liberty movement.
Betsy Dewey for Congress 2012
I am about to switch over to a new website – something more along the lines of Betsy Dewey for Congress 2012. I am also accepting campaign donations. If you would like to donate, please click on “Contact Me” and let me know. I will most likely be blogging more about political issues than natural birth or cloth diapers these days. I hope you will all understand.
I take this oath very seriously:
The Oath of Office of the House of Representatives:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God.
I’d like to say for the record, that I will never compromise my integrity – even if it means I cannot win. Do I sew the seeds of Liberty (small government, individual freedom, personal responsibility) or do I try to win votes on the sly? According to Thomas Sowell, in order to win an election, you have to offer the people something impossible. Instead of offering jobs and free medical care, housing, and food – I offer you something that seems almost as impossible – peace, small government, and personal liberty. The difference to me is that these ideals are attainable – if the American people want them.
I refuse to become a slimy politician. Who I am is way more important than any place of prestige. It seems to me that once you become a little slimy, it’s really hard to get unslimy – because of the word “become.” Once you’re slimy, you’re slimy. I stand resolute in my belief in individual liberty and the self-regulating free market. Socialism is for the fearful, and has no place in the land of the free and the home of the brave. My values will not change for the sake of a vote.
