September 25, 2014

Imminent threat

One of the big talking points last decade was the idea that we can't preemptively attack to relieve a threat unless the threat is "imminent". That always annoyed me; it amounts to saying, "Don't fight the forest fire until you can see flames from your front porch."

It never made sense. The best time to fight a big fire is before it gets big, and the best time to deal with a threat is before it becomes imminent. (And the best way to fix a software bug is to prevent it in the first place.)

And now that Obama has finally started taking the threat of radical Islam seriously (or at least is pretending to), the usual suspects are talking about whether the threat is "imminent" again -- albeit in muted voices, because Obama is a Democrat, a Progessive, and an African-American. Don't wanna be racist, donchaknow...

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Rants at 03:16 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 I'm not so concerned about whether the threat is imminent, but I'm getting kind of annoyed with Mr. "I don't need Congress for anything", and his opinion that he doesn't need laws or declarations of war to do anything he wants, anything at all. Just his pen, and his phone, and enough votes in the Senate that he can't be convicted.
     Government is a terrifically dangerous institution, and the rule of law is one of those few things that actually restrains that danger. And Obama displays his contempt for that on a daily basis. If it isn't invading other countries, and blowing off the war powers act, it's canceling our immigration laws, or waiving black letter features in the ACA because having them kick in before the next election might hurt.

I don't think the guy is going to cancel the next Presidential election, and declare himself President for Life. Too much chance of getting shot, and he's got his palacePresidential Library awaiting him in Hawaii, and the lifestyle of the rich and famous to enjoy for the rest of his life. But the next President likely will take up from where he finished the destruction of the rule of law, and maybe she, or the one after, will decide that elections are too annoying to even bother rigging.

Unless this gets stopped now, and his dictatorial ways get repudiated.

Posted by: Brett Bellmore at September 26, 2014 02:02 AM (F15D0)

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