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It's the law

© Beth Skinner

As I watched the Elian Gonzalez kidnapping story replay itself on TV I couldn't decide what made me want to throw up more - thinking about how the President and the Attorney General continuously abuse their power or the attitude of the American public. In the spirit of "President Clintler's" penchant for polls I'll address the latter.

An ABC News poll listed the approval ratings for Reno's Gestapo like actions as high as 65% - many indicate their support because they think, "...it's the law." (Although what law that is exactly has not been clarified - it just sounds good.) A radio show host in Chicago (better known as Mancow) posed this question to a cable television show host, "In the 1800s if a black slave child knocked on your door and told you he and his mother had escaped from the south but his mother died and his father was still living on a slave plantation, would you send him back to his master simply because it's the law?" Good point, but apparently 65% of Americans would.

Ironically, a Gallup Poll taken in November 1999 indicated that 81% of Americans said they disapproved of racial profiling by police. Am I wrong to interpret this to mean that 81% of Americans are opposed to excessive police power? Yet when the federal government perpetuates a grossly uncalled for violent action against a Cuban-American family, 65% of people polled in America think, "Way to go Reno!"

Another poll taken in April by ABC News and the Washington Post indicated that 64% of people surveyed trust the government in Washington to do what is right only some of the time. Yet most people have decided the raid in Miami was one of the times they got it right? This is beyond my comprehension.

A University of Connecticut poll taken in November 1999 showed that less than half of Americans know that the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution protects our right to free speech. Only 13% are aware that it protects freedom of religion. Could this be part of the reason we support Janet Castro's actions? We don't know (or care) what our rights are so why bother with anyone else's rights?

Many have ridiculously tried to explain away the famous picture of the U.S. Marshall confronting Elian and Donato Dalrymple, with the MP5 submachine gun, by saying that, "He didn't have his finger on the trigger." Or, "The gun was not pointed directly at them..." Yet what continues to baffle me is that after the Columbine shootings, for one, we whine and cry about the availability of guns (according to some polls 64% of Americans favor stricter gun control), those awful, wicked, evil movies Hollywood puts out, the murder-inducing video games, etc. etc.

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