Bush to Congress: You're Terminated!
Frank J. Ranelli
The “great experiment” of American democracy is in serious jeopardy and many Americans are still totally oblivious to this terrifying fact. Even more frightening is the apathy displayed by those that have not under-estimated the gravity of our slide into repression. The fundamental reality that must be accepted, if we are to prevent a complete totalitarian rule in this country, is that we have already lost our democratic system. Absolute tyranny is merely a few paces away. Many of our freedoms, rights and the privilege to pursue happiness are already gone.
Witness the Patriot Act and the government's self-imposed right to invade your home without a warrant by proclamation of the ethereal ‘war on terror’, search your personal effects and to even retain you, against your will, without the right to an attorney or even a writ of habeas corpus. Look no further than President Bush’s illegal and unconstitutional ‘terrorist surveillance program’ for additional proof of the evaporation of your civil liberties. Just today, we found out this already highly clandestine and controversial warrantless wiretapping program, which was purported to be aimed only at a select group of outbound calls, has remarkably morphed into a full-blown data mining operation of millions upon millions of inside the United States person-to-person phone calls.
While these transgressions alone are staggering, nothing compares to what the current executive branch has done to a supposed co-equal branch of our government known as Congress. In simple language, Congress has been shelved by the President. The Congress was designed to ratify the laws and the President was intended to ensure they were carried out. That process has not only been reversed, but Congress has been relegated to a suggestion box rather than an equal partner. A straightforward review of Bush’s hundreds of signing statements as addendums to legislation already drafted and approved by Congress is a testament that President Bush sees himself as the defining authority that ultimately shapes our laws. After all, he is the self-proclaimed, “decider.”
The President’s approval ratings are historically low and many in the Democratic Party believe this to be a defining moment to regain control of at least the House of Representatives in the up-coming mid-term elections. If history is a good predictor of the future, that assertion is likely true. However, the damage is already done and precedence has already been set. That precedence is that Congress can be disregarded by the President and any law, bill, mandate, resolution and even the Constitution itself can be capriciously overlooked or flat out ignored if it conflicts with Bush’s own interpretation or desires.
Democratic leaders have shunned the impeachment word, even if they regain control of the House. This is more likely less of a marketing ploy to win over some disenfranchised republicans and more of a reality check. The realization that even with majority control and the power to subpoena, a resolution of inquiry to impeach the president would be nothing more than a dog and pony show, even if it was passed and advanced to the Senate for trial.
Bush’s failure to recognize the rule of law, reportedly disobeying over 750 known laws, is merely a prologue of the more serious rejections of our democratic way of life he is sure to usher in under his command and an almost certainty that the government of “We the People” is systematically being abolished. The revocation of our right to privacy, under the excuse that it’s necessary to protect the American people, is one of many crimes Bush has committed under a bogus National crisis. George Bush might be our 43rd President, but if he completes his coup d'état of our government, he very well may be also our last.
The “great experiment” of American democracy is in serious jeopardy and many Americans are still totally oblivious to this terrifying fact. Even more frightening is the apathy displayed by those that have not under-estimated the gravity of our slide into repression. The fundamental reality that must be accepted, if we are to prevent a complete totalitarian rule in this country, is that we have already lost our democratic system. Absolute tyranny is merely a few paces away. Many of our freedoms, rights and the privilege to pursue happiness are already gone.
Witness the Patriot Act and the government's self-imposed right to invade your home without a warrant by proclamation of the ethereal ‘war on terror’, search your personal effects and to even retain you, against your will, without the right to an attorney or even a writ of habeas corpus. Look no further than President Bush’s illegal and unconstitutional ‘terrorist surveillance program’ for additional proof of the evaporation of your civil liberties. Just today, we found out this already highly clandestine and controversial warrantless wiretapping program, which was purported to be aimed only at a select group of outbound calls, has remarkably morphed into a full-blown data mining operation of millions upon millions of inside the United States person-to-person phone calls.
While these transgressions alone are staggering, nothing compares to what the current executive branch has done to a supposed co-equal branch of our government known as Congress. In simple language, Congress has been shelved by the President. The Congress was designed to ratify the laws and the President was intended to ensure they were carried out. That process has not only been reversed, but Congress has been relegated to a suggestion box rather than an equal partner. A straightforward review of Bush’s hundreds of signing statements as addendums to legislation already drafted and approved by Congress is a testament that President Bush sees himself as the defining authority that ultimately shapes our laws. After all, he is the self-proclaimed, “decider.”
The President’s approval ratings are historically low and many in the Democratic Party believe this to be a defining moment to regain control of at least the House of Representatives in the up-coming mid-term elections. If history is a good predictor of the future, that assertion is likely true. However, the damage is already done and precedence has already been set. That precedence is that Congress can be disregarded by the President and any law, bill, mandate, resolution and even the Constitution itself can be capriciously overlooked or flat out ignored if it conflicts with Bush’s own interpretation or desires.
Democratic leaders have shunned the impeachment word, even if they regain control of the House. This is more likely less of a marketing ploy to win over some disenfranchised republicans and more of a reality check. The realization that even with majority control and the power to subpoena, a resolution of inquiry to impeach the president would be nothing more than a dog and pony show, even if it was passed and advanced to the Senate for trial.
Bush’s failure to recognize the rule of law, reportedly disobeying over 750 known laws, is merely a prologue of the more serious rejections of our democratic way of life he is sure to usher in under his command and an almost certainty that the government of “We the People” is systematically being abolished. The revocation of our right to privacy, under the excuse that it’s necessary to protect the American people, is one of many crimes Bush has committed under a bogus National crisis. George Bush might be our 43rd President, but if he completes his coup d'état of our government, he very well may be also our last.
posted by Frank J. Ranelli at 6:16 PM
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