The mindlessly loyal Republicans who berated Rand Paul for his intelligent and principled filibuster concerning the government’s possible use of drones against Americans, should watch Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s (R-New Hampshire) C-SPAN televised babble about how al Qaeda members do not deserve due process before being punished by the American state.  Her immunization against reason began with the assertion that “we are at war,” a statement that conveniently ignores the fact that no “war” was ever constitutionally declared, by Congress, against al Qaeda, Iraq, Afghanistan,  or Pakistan. Should those accused of drug-dealing likewise be whisked off to prison without benefit of trial, given that “we are at war” with drugs? “She then appealed to “guilt by association” by showing a photo of bin Laden with one of the men she would like to see shipped off to Guantanamo – without benefit of trial.  Is this sufficient cause to punish the man?  If so, what about the fact that the Bush family has had a business connection with the bin Laden family?  Should former President Alfred E. Neuman George W. Bush now be locked away at Gitmo?  Sen. Ayotte – and other lynch-mobbers – behave as though trials and other forms of due process are designed to confer some undeserved benefit – a freebie – on criminals.  Had she and her other statist cohorts not jettisoned whatever remnants of reason that remained in their brains, they would have understood that such open trials exist for the purpose of determining whether an accused is guilty of a crime!  But in the age of Empire, rationality is to be foregone in favor of the whims of those in power, a point she continues to make in this morning’s mini-filibuster!

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