The Threat of Secrecy

Dear Representative Pelosi,

         Senator Boxer,

         Senator Feinstein

 The more I think about the reaction of Congress to the exposé of our Assassin-in-Chief, the more concerned I get. The May 29 article in The New York Times has not led to an investigation of the President’s lawlessness and war crimes, but rather, to a call to stop the leaks! In spite of the President’s denial that the White House sanctioned the leaks, even a schoolchild knows he did and why. Was your goal to change the discussion and divert attention from the President, the old magician’s trick of misdirection? It worked. No more mention in the press of Kill Lists or Targeted Assassinations or covert wars or drone strikes, just speculation about special counsels and the difficulty of convicting leakers. Remember Watergate? The days when leakers, the press and Congress did the job they were supposed to do? Obama has committed far greater crimes than Nixon; he threatens the very foundations of democracy and justice. He is a clear and present threat to world peace and yet two of you remain silent while the third is publicly outraged at the breach of “national security” rather than what was revealed. Do you ever wonder – or care – why people despise politicians? Here’s why: the abuse of power is ignored, the rich and powerful are protected and the rest of us are left to fend for ourselves. You have become too comfortable with your perks and privileges, with the money that pours into your coffers from the fat cats of Wall Street and the corporate Banksters. Like the President, you thrive on secrecy and back-room deals and want to make sure none of it is exposed to the public. Secrecy is the enemy of democracy. By defending secrecy you weaken democracy. You were complicit in Bush’s war crimes. You are complicit in Obama’s war crimes. You should be thrown out of office and replaced by people who believe in democracy, justice and the rule of law; who understand the immorality and evil of war and stop it; who understand the dangers of an unchecked Executive and fight to stop the slide into totalitarianism. Our nation is in more danger today than it has ever been in its 236 year history. Not from external forces but from the rot within, the complicity and corruption of all three branches of government, the willingness to ignore international and domestic law and to break faith with We the People. Congress accepts, even champions, illegal covert wars of aggression, accepts assassination as a matter of foreign policy, and willingly strips basic rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution without a murmur of dissent. You should fear the imbalance of power and the shredding of our Constitutional protections. The President now has the power to declare any of us or all of us terrorists and put us on his weekly Kill List or have us incarcerated indefinitely without trial. It is a result of your fecklessness and complicity. You are all three traitors to America and the people who elected you.