What Police State Legislation Looks Like
25th April 2010
There is a sugment of the population that views any attempt to deal with clear and present dangers as incipient fascism and will cry ‘Wolf!’ at the slightest opportunity. I suspect that this is one such. On the other hand, what is the position of an American citizen caught on the battlefield in arms against United States forces? That’s less clear.
Technically he could be arrested and charged with treason, but you know and I know that it isn’t going to happen, because the Crust regards treason as the highest form of patriotism. So that avenue is closed by one of those walls that mimes habitually encounter.
Also technically (considering the likely scenarios) he would qualify as an ‘unlawful combatant’ and could be held indefinitely without trial or even executed after a drumhead court martial. Leftist bloviations to the contrary notwithstanding, this is perfectly consistent with the Geneva Conventions to which most grownup nations are signatory these days. (You can look it up.)
I don’t have any problem with that except when a U.S. citizen is involved, because U.S. citizens have rights against the U.S. government that foreigners don’t. I suspect that any legislation that treats U.S. citizens in the way that international law allows ‘unlawful combatants’ to be treated would be unconstitutional.