The Offer Congress Can't Refuse

"The Godfather" is a pivotal film because it manages to characterize violence and illegal conduct as necessary, as honorable -- portraying it as an unsightly means to a peaceful end. Who doubted Michael Corleone's honest intentions to find the peace? He never wanted to be like his father -- he wanted to become legit.

But when his family was facing a threat, the gloves came off. A critical moment in the film is when you see this transformation. At the baptism of his nephew, he repeats the priest's litanies: "Do you renounce Satan and all his works?" And with all honesty, and seeming integrity, the young Corleone affirms this. "I do renounce him."

The camera cuts to scenes of the heads of the five other mafia families being slaughtered on his command. In this moment, the audience is led to believe that Michael Corleone had renounced evil, and that the violence that he was sanctioning was therefore something other -- a necessary act required to reach a plane of higher good. He was only trying to protect his family.

Throughout Bush's "war on terror," but especially since the New York Times finally revealed the National Security Agency's (NSA) illegal wiretap program, we have been treated to this justification. The Department of Justice last week released a 42-page defense [PDF] of the domestic spying program that reinforces this line of reasoning, even as it claims more powers for the executive Branch.

Letting the president define 'evil'

Ever since 9/11, there has been a distinct shift in what Americans seem to view as "evil" or "bad." Terrorists are evil, and finding them and murdering them, by whatever means necessary, are depicted as a necessary evil that will lead to a greater good.

Statements and actions that would have previously incited shock were allowed, general outrage was suspended in lieu of the solitary outrage the nation felt at the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Recall president Bush's 2003 State of the Union remark: "More than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries. And many others have met a different fate. Let's just say they are no longer a problem for the United States and our friends and allies."

The latest revelation of outrageous activities done in the name of protecting Americans is the National Security Agency's (NSA) secret, warrantless wiretaps program. Rather than utilizing existing laws, the president has asserted his right to fight the war on terror exactly as illegally as he deems fit. The Department of Justice's January 19 legal defense of wiretaps makes clear that the administration, rather than providing a humbled justification of its spying on Americans, is instead focusing on broadening its campaign to normalize extralegal activities. This is all part of an ever-increasing body of evidence revealing that, even while facing heated public scrutiny, the administration continues to seek expansion of executive power.

The detainment of "enemy combatants," the sanctioning of interrogation techniques internationally deemed "torture," and the latest revelation that president Bush started a program of extralegal wiretaps have provoked outrage among those concerned about civil liberties, human rights and the rule of law.

Time and again, the president has cited the defense that he is protecting the nation's security, and though we may not be privy to how, or indeed, what exactly against, we are continually subjected to this paternal insistence. A pat on the head, equivalent to saying, "You don't understand what I have to do, so I'm not going to bother to explain it to you, but I'll protect you."

The vast cataloguing of executive abuses of power press by groups like Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Amnesty International and the Center for Constitutional Rights may lead you to wonder whether the administration has malicious intent in consistently skirting civil liberties. But perhaps more disturbing is the notion that, like Michael Corleone in "The Godfather," the president has disregarded the law time and time again because he trusts that God is on his side in this struggle -- that the rules must be suspended for the time being in order to achieve the higher goal of the eradication of all enemy forces. If the president truly believes that this is the case, he will stop at nothing to "protect" the American people by riding roughshod over hundreds of years of legal precedent. The categorically incorrect implication is that laws were designed for better times.