Unlike many other people, I have not been disappointed with Barack Obama’s presidency.  There have been many moments of frustration, but it is a damn tough job, especially when so many representatives from both sides seem to have lost all sense of what their responsibilities are.  But I do find the idea of assassinations targeting US citizens without due process deeply disturbing.  Due process is one of the key breakthroughs of the modern state and is at the foundation of what sets us apart from dictatorships.  Now I do believe that it is possible to have situations where US citizens pose such a threat that deadly force is warranted.  Clearly that is already the case today – for instance, when the police confronts an armed robber.  I can even see that this logic could be extended to US citizens living abroad and actively planning a terrorist strike.  But not in an executive branch only fashion.  That is a step back to the Middle Ages.   Here is an appropriately outraged piece with lots of good links at Salon on this subject.

Unlike many other people, I have not been disappointed with Barack Obama’s presidency.  There have been many moments of frustration, but it is a damn tough job, especially when so many representatives from both sides seem to have lost all sense of what their responsibilities are.  But I do find the idea of assassinations targeting US citizens without due process deeply disturbing.  Due process is one of the key breakthroughs of the modern state and is at the foundation of what sets us apart from dictatorships.  Now I do believe that it is possible to have situations where US citizens pose such a threat that deadly force is warranted.  Clearly that is already the case today – for instance, when the police confronts an armed robber.  I can even see that this logic could be extended to US citizens living abroad and actively planning a terrorist strike.  But not in an executive branch only fashion.  That is a step back to the Middle Ages.   Here is an appropriately outraged piece with lots of good links at Salon on this subject.