Sheldon Richman on Obama's Drone Warfare
"Covert" drone warfare requires a level of confidence in politicians that they will never deserve, writes Sheldon Richman. Thomas Jefferson and others of his generation understood that government was simply not something to be trusted. Rather, it was a permanent object of suspicion, because it was uniquely positioned to steal our freedoms. Therefore we can surmise that Jefferson would have been appalled by a government whose chief executive has the unchecked unilateral power to kill people'"including American citizens'"away from the traditional battlefield and without due process, on the basis of suspicions and allegations that they are "involved in planning terrorist attacks against the United States."