-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Pen-l] Obama administration: who needs trials anyhow Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:29:04 -0500 From: Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com> Reply-To: Progressive Economics <pen-l at lists.csuchico.edu> To: Progressive Economics <pen-l at lists.csuchico.edu>
raghu wrote:
> In the long list of all the misery and suffering in the world, 300-odd
> terrorism suspects wrongfully imprisoned, doesn't even make my top-50.
You miss the point entirely, it would seem. The willingness to imprison people for life without a trial is unprecedented in American history. If this occurred in Egypt, it would not be worth mentioning. We are dealing, however, with a problem of erosion of democratic rights in a country that has long been considered exemplary on that front. It is a sign of the growing crisis of American capitalism, as might not be obvious to somebody who has not been trained to detect illnesses in the body politic. _______________________________________________