KING GEORGE??

I am not a big fan of our current administration. There have been times when I've supported actions taken, for sure, but for the most part I tend to think that the Bush administration is one of the most corrupt, if not the most corrupt, administrations in U.S. history.

And for the record, I'm not known as a conspiracy theorist. I think Oswald shot Kennedy on his own, I'm fairly sure the government isn't covering up a UFO scandal, and I am confident that NASA put men on the moon; however, I have said that I wouldn't put it past our current administration to either allow or create a well-timed terrorist act on U.S. soil so that they would be able to declare martial law, suspend elections, and set themselves up in a state of "temporary but permanent" power.

Paranoid? Maybe. But then I read this editorial from the NYT this morning (you may have to register). If you can't get to it, or don't want to register, here are some highlights:

A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that strike to the heart of American democracy have been passed in the dead of night. So it was with a provision quietly tucked into the enormous defense budget bill at the Bush administration’s behest that makes it easier for a president to override local control of law enforcement and declare martial law.

Beyond cases of actual insurrection, the president may now use military troops as a domestic police force in response to a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack or to any “other condition.”

I believe that we are on the verge of something. We are either on the verge of losing our country as we know it in the name of security, or we are on the verge of reclaiming our country in the name of freedom. I understand the concept of party loyalty, but when does party loyalty become detrimental to the people of this country? Blind loyalty only means that you can be led off a cliff more easily.