Now What?

So, now that the United States has dropped Habeas Corpus, what exactly are we supposed to do?

I remember my first visit to Paris (so far, my only one) in early 1985. Reagan had just been inaugurated for his second term. I was taken to a party being given by a guy from Tunisia. The crowd was pretty evenly mixed between French, North Africans, and American students. Two-thirds of the people I met (just guess which two-thirds) asked me something to the effect of “How could you allow Reagan to be in power for another four years?” Telling them I voted for the other guy gave them no satisfaction. It didn’t help me either.

At the time, I thought Reagan was about as bad as things could get in the US. I think it’s safe to say I was wrong.

So, forty or fifty years from now, when your grandchildren ask you what you did when an American president signed a law that took away the basic protection of people to a fair trial, what are you going to be able to tell them? I voted against him twice. I argue with his supporters. I write about how I feel about this president when I’m not writing about TV commercials that piss me off. Is that enough?

Luckily, I’m not going to have grandchildren to ask me. I do, however, have an open invitation to visit a couple of friends in Paris.

But that doesn’t matter. I don’t really need other people to ask me. I’m sitting here asking myself what I’ll have to do in order to avoid being utterly ashamed of the place where I was born.