State-sponsored assassinations at the hands of the U.S. government — and specifically the Pentagon and the CIA — have become a rather ho-hum affair. They have become fully accepted as part and parcel of American life.

Yet, when we stop to reflect on this phenomenon, we can't help but come to the realization that this is truly an extraordinary power. It is an omnipotent power that enables the federal government to snuff out a person's life simply on a determination that he is a communist, a terrorist, a threat to "national security," or whatever other designation the government establishes.

The Framers and the American people in 1789 were totally opposed to living under a government that wielded the power of assassination. Don't forget, after all, that after the break from England, Americans had lived under the Articles of Confederation for some ten years.