Congress passed and in December the president signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which authorizes indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without due process.
Upon quick inspection, it violates the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The Founders must be screaming from their graves.
Iowa Senator Charles Grassley voted for it.
Federal court Judge Katherine Forrest issued a preliminary injunction that bars the government from enforcing section 1021 of the NDAA's "Homeland Battlefield" provisions that permits indefinite military detention of U.S. citizens.
At his Eldridge town-hall meeting, I asked the senator if he was aware that a federal judge overturned a portion of legislation he just voted for.
He was not.
I asked a staffer at the senator's Washington office why the senator wasn't aware that a portion of the unconstitutional legislation he voted for was overturned by a federal judge.
The staffer asked, "Is there anything else I can pass on?" That was his answer.
We have a totally dysfunctional Congress.
But more importantly, most Republicans and Democrats are dysfunctional; they don't call out their representatives as along as they have that all-important "R" or "D" behind their names.
The problem isn't in Washington; it's in Davenport, Dubuque, and Peoria.
People need to hold their representatives in Washington, their states, their counties, and their cities accountable for their actions.
Mike Angelos
Davenport
