Thanks to The Other McCain for the last Rule Five linkery of 2015! We look forward to continuing the relationship in 2016.
What do you suppose 2016 will bring? One thing that the Imperial Mansion is talking up is some sort of Imperial executive action on guns, including placing people on the Imperial “No-Fly” list on the “no guns” list as well. Excerpt:
Obama used a prime-time Oval Office address earlier this month to, in part, turn up the pressure on Congress to act.
“To begin with, Congress should act to make sure no one on a no-fly list is able to buy a gun,” he said. “What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semi-automatic weapon? This is a matter of national security.”
But Republican members instantly rejected that call.
Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., has countered the administration’s gun arguments by saying anyone, including American citizens, “can arbitrarily be placed on the no fly list,” adding officials must “respect due process.”
Does this seem like a good idea? It’s not. Why not?
Can anyone seriously think it’s a good idea to deny a recognized Constitutional right to someone who is on a list that:
- Nobody knows how you get on it,
- Nobody knows who decides you should be on it, and
- There is no recourse once you’re on it.
Apply that to, say, the right to cross state lines; imagine the howls of outrage if President Obama were to sign an Imperial order stating that, if you were on the no-fly list, you were forbidden to cross a state line.
You know, because security, or something.
In the early 1800s, the Duke of Wellington, the guy who handed Napoleon his ass, expressed his opposition to railroads, stating that they would stir up unrest by “allowing the lower classes to move about too freely.” It’s profoundly disturbing to see the same kind of thinking emerging from the Imperial City today.
