'Open Letter to Senator Lisa Murkowski' Politics  

Open Letter to Senator Lisa Murkowski

Ian Overton (69.178.42.156) -

An Open Letter to Senator Lisa Murkowski:

On February 28, 1933 the legal doctrine of the "unitary executive" became the law in Germany, when the famous Notverordnung [emergency decree] was established. It was this legislation, passed a mere 24 hours after the terrorist attack on the Senate Reichstag building, that gave the ruler of that state the power, according to the legal ruling of Nazi "Crown Jurist" Carl Schmitt, to designate which part of his own population were enemies of the state, and to imprison them. And to eliminate them. This was Hitler's dictatorship.

As the leading German jurist of the 1920s and 1930s, Schmitt wrote the legal opinion justifying Hitler's Reichstag Fire coup d'état. Schmitt argued that the "charismatic leader" derives unbridled power from "the people" in time of crisis, and that any form of government based on a system of checks and balances, consensus, and separation of powers, is illegitimate, because it stands in the way of the absolute ruler's responsibility to "protect the people." This legal (sub)standard was codified as the führerprinzip [leader principle], and it is the same philosophy as jurist Samuel Alito's "unitary executive." In a front page article on January 5, 2006, the Wall Street Journal reports on a November 2000 speech, delivered by Alito on the subject of Presidential power. The Constitution, Alito declared, "makes the President the head of the Executive Branch, but it does more that that. The President has not just some executive powers, but the executive power --the whole thing." He has believed since the 1980s, "that this theory best captures the meaning of the Constitution's text and structure."

What is Alito talking about? Separation of powers is the foundation of our system. James Madison wrote in The Federalist Papers, No. 47, that: "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."

An example of how Bush has used the "unitary executive" ideology to remake Constitutional law according to his own jurisdiction is his signing statement of the Defense Appropriations Bill, in specific reference to Senator John McCain's anti-torture amendment which passed by a veto-proof margin of 91-9. Bush writes: "The executive branch shall construe Title X in Division A of the Act, relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power, which will assist in achieving the shared objective of the Congress and the President, evidence in Title X, of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks." This is in direct disagreement with the Congressional power to override Presidential vetoes, and of the 8th Amendment, which bans "cruel and unusual punishment." It is a bitter taste of what is to come if this ideology gains majority backing in the Supreme Court via Samuel Alito's confirmation.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, on December 16, 2005 you were one of four Republican Senators who stood up against partisan politics, to defend Americans' civil liberties by voting against making permanent several questionable provisions of the Patriot Act. In a statement on your website, you say your interest in not seeing the Act expire, "does not mean that we should rush to pass a reauthorization of the Patriot Act that may lead to even minor infringements of Americans' civil liberties... We need a reauthorization that more closely strikes the balance between protecting civil liberties and providing law enforcement the tools they need to do their jobs." Why then, would you vote in favor of Alito, when it is so clear he is a MAJOR liability to Americans' civil liberties? Senator Murkowski, don't make yourself a hypocrite in the eyes of Alaskans and the nation.

Lisa, if you are a decent human being, you won't vote for Hitler.

Sincerely,

Ian Overton

--

Anchorage LaRouche Youth Movement

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