Presidential Alert: “THIS IS A TEST”

… case in point:

Quoting Wikipedia, “The alert level was raised once in 2004, an election year, leading some critics to speculate that the Bush Administration used them for political rather than strictly security reasons.^[17][18] ”

And, to be clear, I don’t believe Homeland Security (DHS), Congress, etc. is in any way, shape or form at fault here… It was Bush et. al manipulating the good intentions of those he was leading (including you and I, unelected officials).

We can even see, thankfully, Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson telling CBS that [the system] “should not be used for a political agenda.”

Think about it, there’s a reason Johnson is having to reiterate something that’s seemingly so obvious…

What This is Really Testing…

So, yeah, they are completely right in saying, “this is a test.”

As it’s a test in our nation’s memory but, mostly, it’s a test in our countries level of engagement.

Because, if we are doing the diligence of paying attention, being actively involved, and therefore, rising above and learning from past travesties, coercions, lies, and fear-mongering manipulations… then, we’ll be able to pass this test with flying colors by recognizing it’s incredibly dangerous for us to place these types of alerts in our President’s control.

You’ll know I’m right when history repeats itself and this beta version of an “alert system” ramps up action during Trump’s next election.

“Sen. Joe Biden, a Delaware Democrat who is no dove, warned of rushing “pell-mell” into an endorsement of broad war powers for the president. The Los Angeles Times reported that Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, protested in September: “We’re being asked to go to war, and vote on it in a matter of days. We need an intelligence estimate before we can seriously vote.” And Rep. Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, put it plainly: “This will be one of the most important decisions Congress makes in a number of years; I do not believe it should be made in the frenzy of an election year.” But it was.”

(This is an excerpt from E. J. Dionne Jr. in 2005, during Bush’s Presidency and election year for 2nd term).

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