Mickey Z

Cool Observer

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Monday, October 16, 2006

Boiling Point

(Eroding Freedom: From John Adams to George W. Bush)

Put a frog into a pot of boiling water, the well-known parable begins, and out that frog will jump to escape the obvious danger. Put that same frog into cool water and heat the pot slowly, and it will not react until it’s too late. The survival instincts of a frog, we’re told, are better designed to discern abrupt changes. Gradual transformation—like the measured raising of water temperature—can sneak up on the little croaker.

I was reminded of the proverbial frog as I considered how the recently passed Military Commissions Act (MCA) managed to get lost in a shuffle of naughty e-mails and bipartisan accusations. This isn’t meant to downplay the MSA. As Michael C. Dorf, a professor of Law at Columbia University, explains: “It immunizes government officials for past war crimes; it cuts the United States off from its obligations under the Geneva Conventions; and it all but eliminates access to civilian courts for non-citizens--including permanent residents whose children are citizens--that the government, in its nearly unreviewable discretion, determines to be unlawful enemy combatants.” Nasty stuff, indeed...but since fiddling with human rights has long been a hobby for America’s power elite, it’d be misguided to assign all the blame to the current administration. The erosion of freedom has been a slow steady process—not unlike boiling a pot of water.

Peruse the full article here.