Surviving Capitalism (Not) : U.S. Justice v. the world

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, February 18, 2011

U.S. Justice v. the world

by Glenn Greenwald from Salon.

This former constitutional lawyer argues that law and the US Constitution are only applicable to those outside of the ruling class--something I've argued many times in the past. He uses the case of Jose Padilla, an American citizen, to illustrate one of the most egregious examples of ruling class immunity from the law and Constitution.

If an American citizen can't even sue political officials who lawlessly imprison and torture him in his own country -- if political leaders are vested with immunity from a claim of this type -- what rational person can argue that the rule of law or the Constitution binds our government officials?