Jimmy Carter: America Has Abandoned Human Rights

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was not mincing words on Monday morning when he wrote a New York Times commentary for which he attacked American politicians for outright abandoning human rights. President Carter pointed to ordered assassinations of people abroad, including American citizens as proof that the September 11, 2001 attacks have allowed bipartisan executives and legislative officials to form attacks without consent from the general public.

According to Jimmy Carter:

“Recent legislation has made legal the president’s right to detain a person indefinitely on suspicion of affiliation with terrorist organizations or “associated forces,” a broad, vague power that can be abused without meaningful oversight from the courts or Congress (the law is currently being blocked by a federal judge). This law violates the right to freedom of expression and to be presumed innocent until proved guilty, two other rights enshrined in the declaration.”

As he rightfully points out, the actions of politicians fall in direct opposition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was established in 1948 to ensure “equal rights of all people to life, liberty, security of person, equal protection of the law and freedom from torture, arbitrary detention or forced exile.”

Not only are American citizens‘ being targeted for assassination, Americans are now subject to warrantless wiretapping and government monitoring of electronic communications. In some cases state laws have allowed people to be obtained because of the clothing they wear, the worship they practice and the people they associate with.

Throw in a healthy helping of 65 US Drone bases now located in the United States and its easy to see how our rights could be violated further should those drones eventually be allowed to fly over American skies.

Read Jimmy Carter’s full commentary on the state of human rights in America and its easy to see how our freedoms are slowly being chipped away.