Dubya Comes To Town

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Firstly...my apologies for the sparsity of BLOGS lately...between a heavy school load and the flu, I have been somewhat disabled.

As I prepared last night for Pres. Dubya's trip to Greensboro, I was conflicted as to which sign I should bring with me to greet the "Decider". I suppose the first consideration should have been...WILL I get to see him...or...will the press get to see me and my sign. Of course...for one's stand to make a difference, one must be seen either by the offending party or by the media.

My first thought was to take the "STOP THE GENOCIDE IN DARFUR" Sign which I had already created. My intent was to post it at school. No doubt...Darfur is an important issue and many lives, not to mention this country's standing in the global community, are at stake. The sign was all ready to go, but is this the most important message I have to send? I wondered, perhaps, if a sign decrying our stance on global warming and this country's political refusal to acknowledge the implications of changing weather patterns, shrinking glaciers and warmer temperatures, would be more appropriate. Al Gore has been adamant in his contention that green issues are paramount, that these weather patterns may soon become irreversible if they are not already, and that world citizens cannot stand idly by and refrain from speaking up.

Again, I was unsure if this is the core message I want to send to the president and to the media. It is undoubtedly crucial and necessary. Nonetheless, I believe that there are other issues which are, perhaps, nearer and dearer to me (not that I do not feel a kinship to those who preach green), and that should demand my attetnion. As a transgender citizen and a member of the GLBT community, do I not feel that GLBT issues...ENDA, discrimination and hate crimmes...are the special issues which demand my most immediate attention? Have I not returned to school in pursuit of a paralegal degree and perhaps a law degree with the specific intent to devote my life to these goals? Yes, I could certainly make the case that my sign should reflect the disenfranchisement, marginalization and exclusionary tactics practiced against the transgender community, the new "untouchable" class in these United States. It was, as they say, a no brainer!

However, all my ideas for the perfect and most appropriate sign changed dramatically in light of the MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT signed into law yesterday. Yes...global warming may presage the end of the world as we know it, and yes, the disgrace and genocide in Darfur are pressing and inescapable. Indeed, GLBT issues are within the purview of my life's intended work and generally would take priority. Still, the signing of the aformentioned act may make any of the other issues moot. Without liberty, without the right to protest, without the constitutional guarantees framed within that most important of documents, the rest seem to pale in comparison.

This act essentially opens the door to a repeal of habeus corpus. It places in the hands of the executive branch unsupervised and limitless authority in its evaluation of "noncombatant militants" and could, conceivably, include any who are deemed to have given material comfort to the alleged enemy. We have already heard vitriolic rhetoric from this administration that protests against its policies were tantamount to aiding and abetting the enemy. It is not a stretch of the imagination to suppose that all protest, some day, will be foreclosed with the assertion that it is not in this country's best interests and therefore must be curtailed. Those who assert their constitutional right to protest will be summarily rounded up and arrested, no charges nor evidence necessary.

The framers of the U.S. Constitution, with hardly an exception, were most concerned about an executive department unreigned. It is, without a doubt, a concern that surfaces over and over in the Fedralist Papers. Madison, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Franklin, et al, had all offered opinions that confronted such fears, particularly after the colonists' experiences with that OTHER King George. They vehemently were opposed to a monarchy as a viable gobvernment structure and specifically created a government wherein separation of powers was the effective control measure to ensure that the United States would never sufer from a despotic executive branch.

Oh, how those framers would react today. It cannot me imagined any other way than that they would be livid and outspoken in their efforts to warn the citizens of this country that they were embarking on a path beset with danger. Benjamin Franklin went so far as to assert that a strong press was, by far, more important than a strong executive. He undoubtedly valued the limits of executive authority as did his compatriots.

With that in mind, this is how my sign reads:

OCTOBER 17, 2006
THE DAY KING 'W' KILLED THE CONSTITUTION

Will I be the only protestor out there? Will my right to protest be either denied or marginalized by a less than effective visual placement? Will I be arrested?

Updates to follow...

trickster108