Just as they do every year, thousands of progressive activists gathered outside of Fort Benning, Georgia in November 2007 to protest the instruction in torture techniques that is believed to be given there by the U.S. military to soldiers and agents from foreign countries.

The presence of these activists in vigil, for many long years, against torture is a sign of the resolve of progressives in defense of liberty not just here in the United States, but for all people around the world. These protests may not have ended cooperation between the U.S. government and the the governments of other nations in the use of torture, but they do demonstrate the depth of progressive love for freedom.

Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich was there. Not a single Republican presidential candidate was in attendance. Not Ron Paul, who says he values liberty, but couldn’t bother to attend the protests, because he had to prepare for a fundraiser in Las Vegas instead. Not John McCain, who says that he’s against torture, but supports George W. Bush’s attempts to legalize torture anyway.

The progressive activists outside of Fort Benning realize what phonies like Ron Paul and John McCain can’t seem to grasp: That the American freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution are categorical. We won’t keep our freedoms if we only support them when it’s politically convenient to do so.

(Source: Reuters, November 18, 2007)

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