Blackwater was CIA's extension, founder Erik Prince admits

[JDPriestly]

9. We are not living in a democracy.

Our government does not answer to us, the people. That is something that I think we can all agree on at this time, whether we think of ourselves as Democrats or Republicans.

Where in the Constitution does it say that our president can hire mercenaries to carry out aggressive acts on our behalf? Where in fact does it say in our Constitution that our president or any members of our government can hire mercenaries to do anything?

Where in the Constitution do we give our president and Congress the right to keep vital secrets from us?

We have gradually gotten used to the idea that we have to wage war and, in order to do that, have to give our executive branch including the president who is the commander in chief of our military, the authority to make decisions about what to tell us and what not to tell us. But how far does that authority reach?

Do we actually live under a military dictatorship?

In recent years since the Iraq War, I have followed these things fairly closely although I never really thought them that important before that time, and even now, I really don't have that much knowledge or information about these things. Nevertheless, I have observed a clear pattern of secrecy.

In the past couple of days, I heard an interview on KPFK in which an expert on the history of the Vatican, a former Catholic priest, stated that William Casey, on behalf of the Reagan administration, transferred money to the Vatican to give to Solidarity in Poland. In a way, that is great. In another way, that is horrible. I'm not sure whether to believe it, and I am not sure whether that is good or bad from a moral point of view.

But from the point of view of how a democracy should, in my opinion, work, it is dreadful.

We need to end the excessive secrecy of the military and intelligence portions of our government. They have taken over. And their takeover is dividing us.

We are all suspicious of them and we take it out on each other. Why do we who are liberal think that the "gun-nuts" want to have so many weapons? Because they feel confused and don't trust the government? That is what they seem to be saying? I have not reacted by getting guns. Rather, I read and listen and try to inform myself.

Where is the transparency and justice that President Obama promised?

The documents from the past, no matter how incriminating should be provided to us. And the government, including the military and the intelligence branches should not be able to hide information from our courts.