No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
If Obama officials were ever called to testify why they created secret death panels to kill American citizens, in violation of the 5th Amendment, I can guarantee that they would "plead the fifth" to protect themselves.
Didn’t we just bomb Libya into oblivion under the auspices of protecting the civilians from being targeted by their government?
Timothy McVeigh was certainly a threat, as were Nidal Hassan and Jared Lee Loughner. They killed people in front of many witnesses. They took up arms against their government in a literal way, yet were still afforded trials.
These constitutional protections are in place because our Founders realized it is a very serious matter to deprive any individual of life or liberty.
Al-Awlaki was on a kill list compiled by a secret panel within President Obama’s National Security Council and Justice Department.
The administration, behind closed doors, served as prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner.
How many more Americans citizens are on that list?
They won’t tell us.
What are the criteria?
They won’t tell us.
Where is the evidence?
They won’t tell us.
--Ron Paul
Ron Paul interview with Wolf Blitzer
(the condensed version)
To repeat an old cliche - Wolf Blitzer throws one hard ball after another and Ron Paul knocks them all out of the ballpark.
Wolf: What do you think about Obama's Millionaire's tax?
Ron Paul: Laughingly - Its a magic cure - everything will be OK afterward.
Not joking - The problem is not too little taxing but too much spending.
Wolf: The polls all say that Americans want to tax the millionaires. Why do you believe Americans are wrong?
Ron Paul: Americans are brainwashed by war propaganda and beating of war drums into "ill-advised" positions. They were asked if they supported our invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan then and now 10 years later they are regretting these actions. Doesn't mean that the majority is right if they are brainwashed. This is the danger of pure Democracy.
The mass-media is demagoguing and saying that we have to attack the wealthy and just because the people support that does not make it right.
I don't mind criticizing the wealthy at times, and I have criticized the bankers and the bailouts and the corporations who gained all the benefits both when the bubble was being built and again after it was burst when they got bailed out -- and the people suffered. But that doesn't mean we should tax wealth for the sake of wealth.
We should stop the subsidies to the wealthy. Stop supporting everyone who gets rich off of government contracts (Solyndra and SolarReserve come to mind) or they are on the inside where they get the bailouts.
But let's not penalize people who create wealth and provide great services to the people.
Wolf: That seems to be the mood of the Occupy Wall Street crowds. What do you think of those protesters?
Ron Paul: Hard to tell because we don't know where they are coming from. I suspect there are both types out there. There is going to be a lot of anger with a shrinking pie - from the ones who are afraid they are going to be asked to pay a lot more of the entitlement society and from the ones who feel entitled and are afraid of being cut off.
Wolf: Plays Herman Cains quote "Don't blame Wall Street! Don't blame Big Banks! If you are unemployed and not rich, Blame yourself!" What do you think about that?
Ron Paul: Sure, I imagine that applies to a few people in the country. No, I don't come at it that way. The system has been biased against the middle class and the poor. When you destroy a currency, you transfer wealth from the middle class to the wealthy, because they have access and they get the bailout. It was not the fault of the poor that we have followed a deeply flawed economic system. So I am not going to say "it is all your fault, if you want to be rich you can be rich". People are begging and pleading for jobs, but there are no jobs as a consequence of bad economic policy. We still accept the model that central banking and central planning can provide prosperity. That is where the flaw is. Blame that on the average guy who wants a job? I can't agree with that.
Wolf: Newt Gingrich disagrees with you about the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki. Listen to what Gingrich says, "Congressman Ron Paul is wrong about the law, he is wrong about the Constitution, and the President was exactly right legally and was exactly right morally in killing somebody who was a threat to everybody." Wolf, "OK. so go along and respond to Newt Gingrich"
Ron Paul: I'd ask him to read the Fifth Amendment. It's pretty clear that government cannot take the life of any person, especially an American citizen, without due process of law, using an assassination list from a secret panel. We don't even know what the qualifications or criteria to be put on the list. Do I unknowingly meet those secret rules? This is the most dangerous precedent. We need to follow the Constitution and the rule of law it lays down.
Wolf: But Newt Gingrich says if we call him by the name of "enemy combatant" then it's all OK.
Ron Paul: I wold ask Newt and the President then to produce some evidence of what he did and why that makes him an "enemy combatant". If the Israelis could try Adolph Eichmann, can't we try someone like Anwar al-Awlaki?
Alwaki was accused of being a threat. Well many say I am a threat to their war. Am I an enemy combatant, giving aid and comfort to our enemies? Should I be assassinated by order of a secret panel?
Wolf: Would you support articles of impeachment?
Ron Paul: I haven't introduced articles of impeachment, but I think it is an impeachable offense (if the mood of the people allowed it). I could support that.
TCS: The Christian Solution adds its two bits
TCS: Always hard to think on your feet when being grilled by a hostile media-Scribe, but let us add that Ron Paul has in the past argued that the correct Constitutional approach to an Anwar al-Awlaki would have been to apply to Congress for a Constitutionally prescribed Letter of Marque and Reprisal. In another argument, it has been said that al-Awlaki committed treason, but treason is only proved with two witnesses to the same overt act or upon confession in a court of law, both due process of law requirements as Ron Paul suggests. In still another argument, it has been said that he was eligible to be killed because we are at war and he was on the side of the enemy, but the response is that first, we are not Constitutionally at war (a Ron Paul argument), and second, the so-called war front funded by Congress is Iraq and Afghanistan, not Yemen (another Ron Paul argument). This President has invaded and bombed in at least half a dozen countries now other than the ones Congress (that is Ron Paul's peers) provided funds to support.
Notice the extreme blank indifference of the Occupy Wall Street protesters in the background
