Letters to the Editor
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Che Pasa:
Then what? Does the Autocracy wither? Does anyone seriously believe it will? I don't. More than likely what will happen is that there will be much parading around and blaring of trumpets and public worship of the "restored" Constitution, but nothing will actually have been "restored" at all.
The restoration of habeas corpus will accomplish exactly what it will accomplish -- namely, it will enable the thousands of people who are withering away for years in U.S. custody the opportunity to get into a court and convince a federal judge that they are not guilty.
Nobody is suggesting that the enactment of this bill would be some cure-all or would satisfy those who make grand systemic critiques of America (if anything would ever be satisfactory).
But there are real human beings in detention right now, and while it may be true -- sitting on a generalized intellectual plane of political philosophizing -- that this measure would only be a small fraction of what is needed, it is equally true that the difference between having a habeas corpus right and having none is enormous for the actual people who are actually being detained with no process of any kind.
We've had this discussion before, but absent some violent fundamental revolution -- which might be more glorious and dramatic but is so improbable that it's irresponsible to wait for it -- all change is going to be incremental. And each increment can easily be dismissed away as insufficient by pointing to all the things left to be done.
But that is tantamount to being in a group trying to climb a mountain, and each milestone that is passed along the way, having to hear: "Oh, what we just accomplished is nothing, meaningless, who cares? Look at all the ground we have to cover still." Yeah, that's true. But so what? It still is necessary to take each step.