'Rule Of Law' Is Too Important To Abandon

It really upsets me that Republicans are so willing to give up the things that make us a free people. I don't know if they're just stupid, scared or trying to appeal to the ignorance of their base of voters -- maybe all three. They seem to believe that equality and rights should only belong to those people that they like.

The latest right they are willing to give up is the Miranda warning -- a cornerstone of our "rule of law". Many of them think that foreigners and terrorists should not have the same legal rights as everyone else in this country. They don't realize that if it can be taken from even one person, then it can be taken from anyone. Just get accused of something they don't like and suddenly they will try to strip you of your rights.

They didn't want to give the failed Christmas bomber (Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab) his Miranda warning and the current talk from Republicans is that the failed New York car bomber (Faisal Shahzad) shouldn't be read his Miranda warning. I don't know why these men don't have faith in our system -- a system that has worked fine until now. In fact, both of these men gave up valuable information after being given the Miranda warning.

Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) said, "I think obviously the [mirandizing Shahzad] would be a serious mistake until we've - at least until we find out as much information as we have, and there are ways - legal ways - of delaying that." Rep. Peter King (R-New York) agrees with McCain.

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) goes even further. He wants to change a law that says anyone fighting in an enemy army will be stripped of their American citizenship. He wants to make that law apply to all terrorists in this country (I can only assume he includes Timothy McVeigh and his ilk in that). He thinks we could then deny them rights included with the "rule of law".

What these fools don't understand is that the "rule of law", including the Miranda warning, doesn't just apply to American citizens but to anyone arrested in the United States -- even terrorists and foreigners. Do they really think we should deny the rights in our justice system to a tourist just because they are from another country (say England or Canada)? Of course not. There are a couple of reasons why these rights must apply to everyone.

First, if we ever decide that only certain people are deserving of rights, then we are destroying the very idea of the "rule of law" and creating a situation where it's up to the government who gets rights and who doesn't. I realize terrorists commit heinous crimes, but so do rapists, murderers and child abuser. We have never let the crime one has been accused of dictate the rights available to the accused person in this country, and I hope we never do. Remember, a person is not guilty until found guilty in a court of law after a fair trial, but Republicans are willing to take away rights before a person has even been convicted of a crime.

Second, if we don't give the same rights to a foreigner accused in our courts, then we can't expect other countries to give Americans any rights when accused in their country. This could be very bad for anyone traveling outside the country, and we wouldn't have the moral authority to say or do anything about it.

For our justice system to work fairly, the "rule of law" (including all parts of it like the Miranda warning) must be extended to anyone arrested or accused in this country (regardless of their crime or likability). The Republicans should have more faith in our free and fair justice system. Personally, I'm not willing to give up the "rule of law" -- no matter how frightened the Republicans are.