Something has been bothering me for a long time, and I think I've finally found a way to express it. The Powers That Be keep telling us that we shouldn't "give rights" to those held in Guantanamo Bay, or elsewhere around the world either by us or in our name. But, to quote a certain timely document;
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
In other words, all people have rights. The fact of the matter is, our country is great not because it gave us these rights, but because (at least until recently) we have affirmed and protected those rights for ourselves and those under our aegis.
Our country will only retain it's moral authority so long as we honor the rights that we were founded to affirm.
"With the first link, a chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
-Jeri Taylor, "The Drumhead," episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1991)
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