Why Is There Apathy Towards Executive Orders Allowing For Secret "Kill Lists?"

{Editor’s Note: This is the 20th installment of a series of articles attempting to address the 32 questions posed by Ron Paul in his recent farewell speech given in front of Congress. Check out the previous installment, Why Can’t People Understand That War Always Destroys Wealth And Liberty? }Let me begin this installment by addressing the issue that has spawned the most egregious savaging of Liberty since the founding of the United States: the power of the President through the use of Executive Orders and Executive Privilege. From our previous article on the subject:

The growth in power that the Executive Branch has experienced cannot be blamed upon a single individual, institution, or group.  Responsibility for the vast power the President wields in US politics can be equally attributed to congress, each President, the Judicial Branch, the media, and the people of the United States.  Blame should be assigned to Congress for ceding their legislative authority and also to the Presidents that have abused their power through use of executive privilege, executive orders, and waging of war without a Congressional declaration.  The Supreme Court is at fault for affirming the power of these powers ceded to the Executive Branch.  The media has aided the growth in power by creating a national narrative which depicts the Executive Branch as the originator and executor of legislation.  Lastly, the people have allowed the balance of power to be distorted beyond recognition by not holding our electing official accountable to the Constitution.The authors of the Constitution intended the Executive Branch to be the executor of policies legislated by Congress.  The Constitution assigned certain prerogatives to each branch for a reason and did not define the role of the Executive Branch to include competition with the Legislative Branch in molding policy.  This becomes especially relevant when discussing the Executive Branch’s abuse of power when claiming the power of executive privilege.

Having provided the background on Executive Orders and Privilege in broad strokes, let's get down to brass tacks and tackle Obama's secret "Kill Lists" and the general apathy and lack of outrage from the general populace in America. Long story short, one of the basic tenants of the Bill of Rights guaranteed to every citizen via the 6th Amendment is the Right to Fair Trial and a Notice of Pending Criminal Charges. Additionally, the right to a public trial is included as well as the right to a trial by an impartial jury. Obama's secret kill lists, first created in 2010 according to this NY Times piece, bypass all of those basic rights provided to Americans.By assassinating American citizens abroad via drone strike, as he did with the recent assassination of U.S.-born militant preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, Obama is skipping the rights that any citizen is promised, regardless of their status as a "terrorist" or not. The Obama Administration will argue that capturing him would be too much of a risk to our troops, cost too much money, etc., but what if this man was innocent? What if there were mitigating circumstances? He was murdered without having a chance to defend himself. And this could happen to any of us.  Maybe it could be just a  case of mistaken identity that ends in tragedy, but because of the nature of these secret kill lists it will always be too late if action is taken. Americans are being killed without notice of their crime, without a chance to defend themselves in a court of law; sentenced to death by a panel of judges assigned and overseen by a President who should never have such power.Why Is There Apathy Towards Executive Orders Allowing For "Kill Lists?"There are several reasons as to why Americans have stayed silent or blind to this disgrace. The first is simply that the average American has been brainwashed by a fear-mongering media, spoon fed by our government to believe that we are under constant threat. We already allowed the nefarious Patriot Act to pass not once but twice, permitting domestic spying, black bag ops and a laundry list of other atrocities in the name of "safety." So under the guise of protecting ourselves and the false assumption that those on the list obviously deserve to be there and that it "could never happen to me," citizens accept our President murdering the people whose rights he is supposed to protect.Second is the complicity of the mainstream media through complete lack of coverage  of these acts. While the "kill lists" did get a modicum of coverage, it was a blip in the radar rather than the massive media storm it should have been. Without a true impartial media explaining the ramifications of these Executive Orders to the populace, most Americans will simply accept it, or have missed the short coverage window and still be blissfully ignorant to what is happening.A third reason is also based in ignorance. Many many Obama (and Romney) voters are willfully ignorant - they support the man because they like him, or his slogans,  or share a racial heritage with him and will follow him blindly. His policy, his actions and his track record are secondary. These incredibly upsetting exercises proves that rather well.When it comes to advancing the ideas of liberty, education is the most important weapon we have against tyranny. It isn't that most people are stupid or evil, or in favor of many of the attacks on our rights that the government undertakes. They are simply uninformed or under the belief that our government always its citizens as its top priority. In reality, government looks out for government.                              Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!