10 Reasons the U.S. is no Longer the Land of the Free

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/is-the-united-states-still-the-land-of-the-free/2012/01/04/gIQAvcD1wP_story.html

This editorial by Jonathan Turley from the Washington Post is about a list that the State Department issues that discusses laws passed in other countries that violate the rights of the citizens of those countries. The editorial then argues how it is hypocritical of the U.S. to release such a list when we have many laws of our own that violate the rights of our citizens. Turley then cites the abilities given to the president that are in question, which include the ability to have citizens killed whom are considered terrorists, the ability to hold citizens considered terrorists for unlimited amounts of time, the prevention of interrogation of CIA agents suspected of war crimes, the ability that the president has to choose whether a person is subject to a trial or a military tribunal, and others. Turley then finishes by discussing the fact that laws like this are exactly what the founding fathers were trying to prevent when they wrote the constitution, and that the executive branch has taken steps to make sure that some of these abilities cannot be removed.