Should non citizens have the same legal rights as Americans?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/23/ksm.attorney/index.html
Link is just for context, but the question is, in general, whether non US citizens should be allowed the same legal rights as American citizens.
I probably obviously believe they should, because once you start excluding certain segments of people it's very easy to expand that exclusion. Remember when the suspension of habeas corpus wasn't going to effect American citizens. It has, and will continue to do so, because the justifications will keep being expanded and widened and more and more vague as to cover almost any ideological or political abuse.
But more importantly for me, it's the inherent hypocrisy of saying someone is undeserving of the same basic rights as Americans for no other reason than they are not American citizens. Whether you or I agree with or even see this hypocrisy isn't even the most important aspect of it; Appearance is everything, especially in the techno-linked world we live in today. We simply can not hide anything anymore, it's just not possible, unless we want to be like Russia and China and Iran. And even those countries can't clamp down all the way, technology won't allow them to.
We claim to the world that our legal process and form of government is the best in the world, and yet we pick and choose those who we allow to participate in the legal process and who is protected by our form of government. We have the best system, but you can't be a part of it, nor have access to it, or be protected by it. There is no inherent hypocrisy in that sentiment?
Anyway, I've long been a proponent of leading by example. If we have an open government and legal system then the world gets to see how it works, see it in action, and judge for themselves. Instead we close it off and hide it behind closed doors and in secret military courts with little to no legal protections or access to those we wish to execute for their crimes.
Are we really that secretly ashamed of our government and legal system?
Link is just for context, but the question is, in general, whether non US citizens should be allowed the same legal rights as American citizens.
I probably obviously believe they should, because once you start excluding certain segments of people it's very easy to expand that exclusion. Remember when the suspension of habeas corpus wasn't going to effect American citizens. It has, and will continue to do so, because the justifications will keep being expanded and widened and more and more vague as to cover almost any ideological or political abuse.
But more importantly for me, it's the inherent hypocrisy of saying someone is undeserving of the same basic rights as Americans for no other reason than they are not American citizens. Whether you or I agree with or even see this hypocrisy isn't even the most important aspect of it; Appearance is everything, especially in the techno-linked world we live in today. We simply can not hide anything anymore, it's just not possible, unless we want to be like Russia and China and Iran. And even those countries can't clamp down all the way, technology won't allow them to.
We claim to the world that our legal process and form of government is the best in the world, and yet we pick and choose those who we allow to participate in the legal process and who is protected by our form of government. We have the best system, but you can't be a part of it, nor have access to it, or be protected by it. There is no inherent hypocrisy in that sentiment?
Anyway, I've long been a proponent of leading by example. If we have an open government and legal system then the world gets to see how it works, see it in action, and judge for themselves. Instead we close it off and hide it behind closed doors and in secret military courts with little to no legal protections or access to those we wish to execute for their crimes.
Are we really that secretly ashamed of our government and legal system?
posted by opus512 at 12:53 PM
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