Aus einem eMail-Wechsel mit einem Freund. Er ist ursprĂŒnglich US-Amerikaner, lebt aber seit einiger Zeit schon hier in Berlin – fast wie im Exil. Er berichtet immer im Detail von den neuesten, von aussen nur mit viel Aufwand durchschaubaren innenpolitischen Entwicklungen in den USA:Aus einem eMail-Wechsel mit einem Freund. Er ist ursprĂŒnglich US-Amerikaner, lebt aber seit einiger Zeit schon hier in Berlin – fast wie im Exil. Er berichtet immer im Detail von den neuesten, von aussen nur mit viel Aufwand durchschaubaren innenpolitischen Entwicklungen in den USA:
man, this „terror“ law they just passed is unreal. on the one hand, the bush junta seems to be lame ducked and on the defensive, whatever credibility it has left falling fast, and then on the other they manage to push through a law that keeps the loopholes open for torture, gives them all special immunity from prosecution, and basically lets the president throw out all civil and human rights if they decide someone is a threat — this kind of concentration of power is unprecedented in US history, and that it’s all spelled out as law is unbelievable. i guess i’m still incredibly naive after all, but i just can’t see how people swallow that, why there’s no urgency, why resistance isn’t screaming from every wall and massive protest and disobedience constantly disrupting normality. everybody just gets up and goes to work, just another day… some are saying it will be struck down as unconstitutional in a year or two, that it’s just election year posing. if so, then liberal rationality has really gone off the tracks, because this makes full „emergency powers“ everyday reality and if it gets fully institutionalized it will scare people away from any kind of dissent, let alone radical association. as it is, you can be snatched off the street for writing a check to a charity connected to hamas or hezbollah?!! fear is winning, i guess, and the „good“ libertarian tradition of US history is now so weak as to be clinically dead.
Meine Antwort:
i just got my copy of „doppelstaat“ (ernst fraenkel), the „dual state“ in english language, from 1943. he anlyzed the nazi-german legal-system. he shows how ‚massnahmestaat‘ (executive institutions have full power and right to decide) and ’normenstaat‘ both exist at the same time. one should reread fraenkel having a look on the acual legislation going on in the us. i would say its exactly the same thing: a maĂnahme-state growing within a burgoise rechtsstaat and without canceling the normenstaat. maybe thats how fascism works on a every day legal base: creating nishes in the rechtsstaat (not getting rid of it) to run the massnahme-staat besides the normenstaat.
man, this „terror“ law they just passed is unreal. on the one hand, the bush junta seems to be lame ducked and on the defensive, whatever credibility it has left falling fast, and then on the other they manage to push through a law that keeps the loopholes open for torture, gives them all special immunity from prosecution, and basically lets the president throw out all civil and human rights if they decide someone is a threat — this kind of concentration of power is unprecedented in US history, and that it’s all spelled out as law is unbelievable. i guess i’m still incredibly naive after all, but i just can’t see how people swallow that, why there’s no urgency, why resistance isn’t screaming from every wall and massive protest and disobedience constantly disrupting normality. everybody just gets up and goes to work, just another day… some are saying it will be struck down as unconstitutional in a year or two, that it’s just election year posing. if so, then liberal rationality has really gone off the tracks, because this makes full „emergency powers“ everyday reality and if it gets fully institutionalized it will scare people away from any kind of dissent, let alone radical association. as it is, you can be snatched off the street for writing a check to a charity connected to hamas or hezbollah?!! fear is winning, i guess, and the „good“ libertarian tradition of US history is now so weak as to be clinically dead.
Meine Antwort:
i just got my copy of „doppelstaat“ (ernst fraenkel), the „dual state“ in english language, from 1943. he anlyzed the nazi-german legal-system. he shows how ‚massnahmestaat‘ (executive institutions have full power and right to decide) and ’normenstaat‘ both exist at the same time. one should reread fraenkel having a look on the acual legislation going on in the us. i would say its exactly the same thing: a maĂnahme-state growing within a burgoise rechtsstaat and without canceling the normenstaat. maybe thats how fascism works on a every day legal base: creating nishes in the rechtsstaat (not getting rid of it) to run the massnahme-staat besides the normenstaat.