2 Days of Executive Orders: Obama's salute to the failures of modern Conservative thought Posted by Moira Whelan

Yesterday, President Obama signed Executive Orders that allowed people an unparalleled access to their government and prevented cronyism and secrecy to prevail in service of the people.

Today, he shut down GITMO.

What’s the common thread here?  In my opinion, in two days, Obama shoved the fallacies of the conservative agenda back in the face of Bush conservatives.

A common thread of traditional conservatism focuses on the importance of the individual freedoms. It focuses on the idea that government works for the people, and should leave people alone to excel in their own right, and to have their day in court as needed.

Under the Bush Administration, people did not have access to the government. The Bush Adminstration’s failures of openness to the people is well documented, and surely, we’re all aware of the questionable circumstances under which detainees found their way to the Guantanamo Bay detention center, as well as their inability to access basic rights in the context of their detainment.

With two days of Executive Orders, Barack Obama restored the importance of the individual within the context of government. Not only do you have the right to know information, you have a right to challenge the system.

Washington has a tendency to look at these Executive Orders in the context of sweeping ceremonies and overarching technical issues , but it’s really about individuals. It’s about the person who was picked up in Afghanistan because someone was paid to turn in a political or tribal rival. It’s about the person who just wants to know why they were put on the no-fly list.

Kudos to the new Administration who may have opened doors in just the past 24 hours to families who otherwise felt they’d been forgotten.

The power of the individual is a conservative value. It is what drives their desire for lower taxes and even at the early stages, the conservative dedication to not funding abortions with federal money. But just two days in, this administration—a Democratic Administration—is showing a dedication to this principle that Conservatives seem to have lost.

Comments

[Peace]

I wished that the Obama admninstration would at least try to prosecute those in the previous administration, who were wire-tapping journalists and those who disagreed with George W. Bush.

[Fry]

Peace.

Why you spoiled brat of a lib you! It was the Bush administration's use of wiretapping, waterboarding, as well as other acts of true grit that kept your sorry butt safe for the past 7 years. And if you want to prosecute Bush, then guess what, you'll need to prosecute the democratically controlled congress that also voted for the war. Dimwit!!

[Peace]

To Fry:

It was the Republicans that controlled the House of Representatives in 2002 when the war was voted upon while the Democrats only had insignificant majority of one vote in the senate. So therefore Democrats did not control the entire congress. Moreover I find it very unAmerican of you to support the wiretapping of journalists, who were no threat to national security whatsover.

[susan]

does this line refer to the families of the alleged terrorists held in Gitmo?

Kudos to the new Administration who may have opened doors in just the past 24 hours to families who otherwise felt they’d been forgotten.

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