The Constitution Under Fire: Making War on Democracy to Make War in Iraq

For those of you in the greater Philadelphia area, here's a chance to join a dialogue on the Iraq war and the evisceration of the Constitution that made it possible, as well as the danger arising from the current expansion of executive power that threatens to throttle the safeguards originally built into the "balance of powers". The event is part of a nationwide “Out of Iraq” effort co-sponsored by Progressive Democrats of America, Democrats.com, AfterDowningStreet.org, Gold Star Families for Peace and others. It all starts this Saturday morning.

The framers of the Constitution understood that one of the most consequential powers of a government is the ability to wage war. They intentionally made that option difficult to exercise by leaving the various states responsible for maintaining fighting forces in the form of militias and requiring an Act of Congress to declare war.

Lately, however, it seems we find our nation in a perpetual state of war and constantly putting our troops in harm's way, be it in Granada,Panama, Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq.

How has the Constitution been manipulated by recent administrations to provide seemingly unlimited power to the president to wage war and suspend basic civil rights such as habeus corpus and due process? To begin to answer this question and find out how we can change the current course of events, we'll hear from some experts on the subject.

Mark Crispin Miller, Professor of Political Science at NYU and author of numerous books including The Bush Dyslexicon and Cruel and Unusual, will speak through his film A Patriot Act, a chilling indictment of the stealth movement within the Bush administration to subvert the US Constitution and replace American democracy with their own peculiar set of religious values.

Chuck Pennachio, Professor of American History at Philadelphia's University of the Arts and candidate for US Senate, will attend and has been asked to speak about the national security apparatus and how its abuse has created the potential for a police state that threatens our privacy and liberty.

Joe Hoeffel, former US Congressman from Montgomery County and 2004 candidate for US Senate will talk about recent news that the President of the United States has ordered wiretaps and email intercepts of US citizens without proper court oversight.

Date: Saturday, January 7, 2006
Time: 9:00 AM

Location: United Food and Commercial Workers #1776
Address: 3031 Walton Road, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462

Click here to RSVP.

Click here for map.

A $5 contribution to defray costs will be requested but no one will be turned away.

Special 2 for 1 "Bring a Friend" coupons are available here.


If you would like to help organize this event or join the host committee as a sponsor, please Email the Host

Sponsored by Montgomery County Democracy for America