Egypt // Current TV

Obama: Government Tyranny Impossible Because 'Government Is Us'

In his big pitch in Colorado on Wednesday for further gun control, President Obama made an astonishing statement about gun rights advocates’ fears of governmental gun seizures. He said that such worries would just feed “into fears about government. You hear some of these folks: ‘I need a gun to protect myself from the government. We can’t do background checks because the government’s going to come take my guns away.’ The government’s us. These officials are elected by you … I am constrained as they are constrained by the system that our founders put in place.”

There are two odd angles to this statement. The first is Obama’s overarching theme: government violation of rights is impossible because “the government is us,” and we can’t violate our own rights. Were this true, we could do away with the Constitution altogether. We would also never have to worry about democracies turning tyrannical, or electing tyrannical rulers. In this odd vision, Germany, Italy, and Spain remained liberal democracies throughout the twentieth century, World War II never happened, and Egypt, the Gaza Strip, and Turkey are all thriving centers of freedom.

The government is most assuredly not us – at least not all of us – which is why our system of government is designed to protect the rights of minorities while still allowing majorities to legislate without violating those rights. Obama’s defense to charges of incipient tyranny is that tyranny can never happen here. Which, of course, makes it more likely that tyranny will happen here.

Truth be told, even Obama does not believe that the “government is us.” If he did, he would never worry about pro-life legislation (he does, and would challenge such legislation in court), heterosexual marriage legislation (he does, and challenges such legislation in court), or anti-Obamacare legislation at the state level (he does, and will likely challenge such legislation in court). Even in Obama’s vision of rights, populism is limited, although his vision of rights is skewed.

Full Story: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/04/03/Obama-Constitution-constrainsIn his big pitch in Colorado on Wednesday for further gun control, President Obama... more

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Obama approved F-16 fighter jets as gift to Egypt

Despite instability due to the new Islamic government in Egypt, the US is sending more than 20 F-16 fighter jets to Egypt as part of a $1 billion foreign aid package.
The first four Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets are set to arrive in Egypt on Jan. 22, an unnamed source told Fox News. Although Egypt already has more than 200 such planes and the latest delivery fulfills an order placed two years ago when former President Hosni Mubarak was still in power, the protests and widespread instability in Egypt have caused some to wonder if providing jets at this time is a bad idea.

The new Islamic president, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, has recently made political moves that have fueled anger and criticism both in the West and among secular Egyptians. Mass demonstrations are currently taking place in Cairo and several other Egyptian cities against Morsi’s decision to hold a referendum on a pro-Islamist constitution. Secular, liberal and Christian groups are demanding that Morsi cancel this referendum.

Groups in opposition to the referendum are due to converge on the presidential palace. The opposition has already breached a barrier outside the palace, but has been unable to pass the wall of concrete blocks and tanks that guard its perimeter. Still, several thousand are protesting in the presidential compound after being let in by the Republican Guard.

In the days leading up the referendum, Morsi authorized his military to secure state buildings and arrest civilians. Six Egyptian Air Force F-16 fighter jets also flew symbolically over Cairo on Monday, military sources told DEBKAfile.
Providing Egypt with more than 20 fighter jets at a time when tensions are so high may not be the best timing. The move may also cause President Obama to appear as if he is standing behind Morsi.

“Obama is therefore using those warplanes as a signpost for the Muslim-Arab Middle East – and the Israeli voter – to show them that he is sticking unswervingly to his policy of support for the region’s Muslim Brotherhood – and especially the Egyptian president – even if Morsi did slip up by a grab for sweeping powers that alienated most of the opposition,” according to DEBKAfile.

Even if the US is simply fulfilling a deal it made two years ago with Mubarak, providing the more than 20 fighter jets in 2013 does make the Obama administration appear to be in support of the controversial Egyptian regime that is now in power.
“The Obama administration wants to simply throw money at an Egyptian government that the president cannot even clearly state is an ally of the United States,” said Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Republican chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Malou Innocent, a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute, warned reporters at Fox that providing Egypt with military resources could haunt the US in the future if a conflict between Israel and Egypt were to arise.

“Should an overreaction [by Egypt] spiral into a broader conflict between Egypt and Israel, such a scenario would put US officials in an embarrassing position of having supplied massive amounts of military hardware … to both belligerents,” she said. “Given Washington’s fiscal woes, American taxpayers should no longer be Egypt’s major arms supplier.”

The $213 million order, paid for by US taxpayers, will provide the Egyptian air force with newer and improved resources. Its fleet of current fighter jets are older versions of the F-16s.

http://rt.com/usa/news/obama-fighter-jets-egypt-856/Despite instability due to the new Islamic government in Egypt, the US is sending more... more

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