CIVIL RIGHTS (human rights, civil liberties)

Among the core values of this nation is the idea that every human being should be treated with dignity and respect and that fundamental rights are God-given. Our culture and our government policies should respect those rights. I believe that in recent years--out of fear or out of apathy--Americans have allowed their government to violate some of these core values. Preserving these values--protecting our civil liberties and our respect for human beings generally--is at least as important as mere physical survival. I strongly oppose practices such as torture (and similar practices that amount to torture), extraordinary rendition (essentially kidnapping people and sending them secretly to places where torture and other practices prohibited in the United States can be used), long-term imprisonment without charges and without access to legal counsel, wiretapping without court orders, the suspension of habeas corpus, and granting the President the power to designate anyone as an enemy combatant, thereby depriving that person of standard legal protections. The past century of human history has shown that even democratically elected governments can become horrifically tyrannical if a citizenry anxious about self-protection allows step-by-step erosion of civil liberties and legal and constitutional procedures. Protecting civil liberties and respecting human rights will strengthen rather than weaken our nation because, among other things, it will increase the level of trust in our government, trust that has been seriously damaged and needs to be restored. (For more on what I mean by "trust," click here.)

One specific recommendation: some sort of commission to safeguard human rights and give recommendations on specific issues (perhaps a commission made up of respected, retired judges). Perhaps such a commission could help depoliticize the issue and prevent fear and partisan attempts to use "patriotism" as a wedge issue from leading to further erosions of civil liberties.