Conservative

Pulliam: Consideration to close Guantanamo Bay ignores democratic process

King George III is at it again. Or at least our president is drawing parallels to the British monarch who revolutionaries fought against in the 1700s.

President Barack Obama is considering his choices for taking executive action to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, according to a Wall Street Journal article from Oct. 9. Obama’s insistence of closing Guantanamo Bay is reflective of a president who disregards the opinions of the people he supposedly represents.  His insistence goes so far as to disrespect the legislative process given to Congress by the U.S. Constitution.

The White House is considering two options for circumventing House Republicans. The first option is to veto the National Defense Authorization Act, a yearly bill that sets military policy that includes a ban on transferring inmates at Guantanamo Bay to the U.S. The second option is to sign the National Defense Authorization Act while declaring that the section banning prisoner transfers is a restriction on the powers of the presidency.  

I admire the president’s determination to fulfill his campaign promise to close Guantanamo Bay. It is refreshing to see a politician trying to follow through on what he said he would do.  

But what Obama wants and what the American people want are not the same. Since 2007, Americans have consistently been opposed to closing Guantanamo Bay, according to Gallup polling. In fact, the percentage of Americans who oppose closing the detention camp and transferring some of the prisoners to the U.S. has risen from 53 percent in 2007 to 66 percent in the most recent poll from June of this year.



Obama does not even have support from his own party. According to the same Gallup poll from June 2014, 54 percent of Democrats do not support closing the prison.   

In 2010, Congress passed legislation that barred the transfer of detainees at Guantanamo Bay to the United States. Despite Obama’s wishes or personal stances, the fact of the matter is that Congress cannot simply be bypassed in the name of fulfilling a campaign promise that less than half of his own party supports.

Taking executive action in the name of undemocratic arrogance is taking a step backwards. The founding fathers created a nation and system of government with checks and balances and separation of powers in order to prevent unilateral decision-making.

The fact that Obama is looking to close Guantanamo Bay without the support of Congress or the American public is anti-democratic. This autocratic style of leadership is the type of governing that the colonies revolted against.

I implore the president to respect the opinions of those who disagree with him. I understand that this is an important issue that needs to continue to be looked at carefully, but the opinion of the American people and the law of the land, passed by congressmen who represent the American people, needs to be respected.

Maybe Obama is on the morally right side of history. I will let the historians of future generations decide that. Right now however, representative governance and separation of powers needs to be upheld regardless of what Obama thinks should be done.  

King George III did not respect the wishes of the people. I hope the president of the United States can have the audacity to operate otherwise.

Chris Pulliam is a sophomore policy studies and political science major. His column appears weekly.   He can be reached at clpullia@syr.edu.





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