The conservatards, OTOH, bleed the coffers dry with things like the War on Drugs, incarcerating 1% of the population, and military adventures in Middle Eastern pestholes that aren’t worth a single cent. Personally, I’d be all for the people responsible for Iraq II being locked up for treason and perjury.
And yes, I realize that SD’s economy is heavily based on the military.[/quote]
spdrun: If it were only true that the liberals weren’t just as complicit as the conservatives.
The creation of the modern US National Security State actually dates back to WWII and owes much to FDR and his support of the OSS (which eventually became the CIA.) FDR recognized as early as 1942 that the US would have to shift focus to the USSR after the defeat of the Axis powers and began tasking intelligence resources to the OSS in advance of the “Big Three” conference in Teheran in late 1943. FDR also understood the geopolitical/geo-strategic importance of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran and began courting the Saudis around the same time: http://cambridgeforecast.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/fdr-meeting-with-saudi-king-ibn-saud-15-february-1945/
This meeting, ostensibly to discuss the Palestinian issue, also included FDR securing oil rights (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Aramco) and sea lane rights for the US. These oil rights were deemed of such critical importance that FDR flew directly to this meeting following the Yalta Conference. The Saudi “special” relationship with the US has been in place for nearly 70 years.
The US “balance of power” relationship in these “Middle Eastern pestholes” included deposing the legitimately elected government of Iran in 1953 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d’%C3%A9tat) and enjoyed the full support from both Dems and the GOP. It also included US military and intelligence resources to odious regimes in Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq.
From there, we have LBJ’s massive expansion of CIA and NSA “shadow war” capabilities during the Vietnam War, including operations like the Phoenix Program and moving forward to the Carter Administration’s drafting of FISA (1978.)
Ronald Reagan was responsible for Iran-Contra, which included illegal drug and gun-running (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Seal) and additional CIA/NSA operations, such as maintaining the Noriega regime (http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/28/us/bush-and-noriega-examination-of-their-ties.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm) and all of Noriega’s little shenanigans. Here’s a fun trivia question: Who was the governor of Arkansas while millions upon millions of dollars of illicit drug gains were being laundered through Mena, Arkansas (the hub of the illegal drug and gun-running scheme)? I’ll give you a hint: It was the president who immediately followed Bush the Elder in the White House.
Which brings us to Slick Willie, who really had fun with things like creating the policy of extraordinary rendition, formation of the NSA Echelon/Carnivore program and the issuance of dozens of Executive Orders authorizing “off book” CIA programs designed to further circumvent the Constitution and avoid civilian/press/governmental oversight of said operations.
Of course, shit got really bad under Dubya, Tenet, Cheney and Alberto Gonzales (USAG) with Gitmo, the Patriot Act and creation of JSOC, along with warrantless wiretapping, further expansion of the rendition program and even more erosion of US civil liberties.
Which brings us at last to Obama, who campaigned on closing Gitmo, and dismantling the worse abuses of the Dubya cabal.
Did this happen? Nope. Obama did not dismantle anything and, in fact, continued to further expand and amplify the horrific and lamentable Bush II policies, as well as push for NDAA (Barack Obama signed this law, giving the president — for the first time in American history — the power to imprison indefinitely an American citizen “suspected” of “association” (without evidence) with terrorists. This fate comes without charge or trial.) and FISA 2008 (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/hr6304.) In addition, under Obama, we now have unauthorized execution of US citizens without due process or any sort of judicial oversight and this little jewel which includes USAG Holder and DNI Clapper: On March 22, reports Engelhardt, Attorney General Eric Holder, our chief law officer, along with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper Jr., agreed to “new guidelines allowing the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) … to hold on to information about Americans in no way known to be connected to terrorism — about you and me, that is — for up to five years.” Its previous limit was 180 days.
So, while it would be great if we had at least one political party in this country protecting our rights and liberties, the sad fact is that both Dems and Republicans have been cheerfully fucking us out of our (supposedly) Constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties for the better part of 70 years.
