So let's clarify: If you are a British citizen on vacation and you jaywalk in the US, you can now be kidnapped if you travel outside the UK. The US will redirect flights, conspire with non-US customs agents, and then spit in the face of another country, in their own court, hiding behind sovereignty and previously uncontested case-law.
Readers, consider the implications if such actions are universalized: What happens if I break a law of another country, like Sudan or UAE, such as free speech or encouraging the progress of women? Do they have the right to grab me once I leave the US? By allowing the US to do this, we are emphatically nodding our heads and smiling. International case law is not unilateral. We're setting a precedent.
I was reading the article comments, and noticed that many non-US citizens have such a strange view of the US. They said things such as "For the Americans to be loved at World level, they will first have to learn to love the World themselves" and "You chaps and chapettes need to put your foot down on this species of judicial arrogance. I would say that most US citizens would be shocked to know that this is the position of its own gov't."
We aren't shocked. We (thinkers) aren't ignorant. It isn't because we want to be informed and our government is making it so difficult. It isn't because we are so scared of the "freedom-hating" terrorists. We have an administration that most Americans disapprove of, most Americans are in favor of impeachment for, and an unresponsive congress that has an even lower approval rating.
It isn't that we aren't hitting the brakes on this crazy ride. We are. It's just that someone cut the brake lines. If it was as simple as "You Americans should do something" and us responding "Oh? Okay. Let me just hit this 'Off' button," don't you think it would have ended? Unfortunately the Off button includes financial repercussions, political demostrations, and now, other acts of "Terrorism" which we've quietly allowed to be outlawed thanks to H.R. 1955. This new law makes true change by the people impossible, by labeling them criminal combatants and terrorists to our current way of life. To put it in short, this is no longer our country. Don't get me wrong. I love the idea of America, and it is the worst country except for all the rest, but the light that has been the beacon for world progress has been snuffed out. We are only such a great country still, because we haven't let time take it's toll, watching the American body atrophy, given our new political environmental conditions: Death, rendition, and the pursuit of militarization. Would America ever have been a great country with the actions and aspirations we have now? No, but it could be great again. So I will stay here and keep fighting, every way I know how. If only it was as simple as an 'Off' button.
