The ACLU on Executive Power

"It's easy to talk in platitudes about liberty, but when you're giving the Department of Justice the authority to pry into the lives of individual Americans who have no connection to terrorism, how do you square those two things?"

That's from Conor Friedersdorf's Atlantic interview with Michael W. Macleod-Ball, the chief of staff in the ACLU's Washington, D.C., office, who says that the most important civil liberties issue at this moment in history is "the aggregation of power in the executive branch." Well worth reading. 

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

What most of these issues have in common, Macleod-Ball says, is that "there doesn't seem to be any motivation to take up oversight in Congress, and there's certainly no inclination that they're going to legislate in those areas to restrict the activity of the president."

I wonder why that is.

Meanwhile, almost all members of Congress are more concerned with seeming "tough" on terrorism than conveying to voters that they're zealous in protecting and defending civil liberties.

Oh, there it is. Congress loves to delegate its responsibilities to the Judicial and Executive for deniability purposes.

But I agree with the ACLU commie. All branches should have equal opportunity to fuck us up.

[John]

Fascism will come at the hands of perfectly authentic Americans, as violently against Hitler and Mussolini as the next one, but who are convinced that the present economic system is washed up and that the present political system in America has outlived its usefulness and who wish to commit this country to the rule of the bureaucratic state; interfering in the affairs of the states and cities; taking part in the management of industry and finance and agriculture; assuming the role of great national banker and investor, borrowing billions every year and spending them on all sorts of projects through which such a government can paralyze opposition and command public support; marshaling great armies and navies at crushing costs to support the industry of war and preparation for war which will become our greatest industry; and adding to all this the most romantic adventures in global planning, regeneration, and domination all to be done under the authority of a powerfully centralized government in which the executive will hold in effect all the powers with Congress reduced to the role of a debating society. There is your fascist. And the sooner America realizes this dreadful fact the sooner it will arm itself to make an end of American fascism masquerading under the guise of the champion of democracy.1

FA Hayak, As We Go Marching. New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1942. 252-253

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Holy crap, talk about prescient.

[John]

This one is even better. I meant to post it, but I couldn't remember where I saw it. From the Road to Serfdom.

"Parliaments come to be regarded as ineffective "talking shops," unable or incompetent to carry out the tasks for which they have been chosen. The conviction grows that if efficient planning is to be done, the direction must be taken "out of politics" and placed in the hands of experts ? permanent officials or independent autonomous bodies.

The problem is well known to socialists. It will soon be half a century since the Webbs began to complain of "the increased incapacity of the House of Commons to cope with its work."

[JT Florida]

Ya, interesting in light of Trump's speeches about seizing middle east oil wells and slapping a 25% tarrif on Chinese goods, all coming on the heels of Bush and Obama wars.

[sarcasmic]

"When fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jackboots. It will be Nike sneakers and smiley shirts. Smiley-smiley."

--George Carlin

[cynical]

It might involve purple shirts, though.

[John Markley]

Excellent quote, but As We Go Marching was by John T. Flynn, not Hayek.

[JD the elder]

Well, nice of the ACLU to say it, but they're between ten and 150 years late to the overreaching-executive-authority game, depending on how you want to look at it.