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Article:
February 26, 2007
A Political War against the American People and its Institutions
by Rodrigue Tremblay [http://www.thenewamericanempire.com/author.html]
Second sorrow: "A loss of democracy and Constitutional rights as the presidency eclipses Congress and is itself transformed from a co-equal 'executive branch'of government into a military junta".Chalmers Johnson (Sorrows of Empire).
"Now those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth, and let me remind you they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyranny." Barry Goldwater, former Republican senator from Arizona.
"Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our (U.S.) Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us." Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), 16th U.S. president.
“There are no hereditary kings in America.” Judge Anna Diggs Taylor.
The Iraq war is turning into a war against theAmerican people and its institutions. According to the latest poll, an overwhelming majority of Americans (63%) want U.S. troops to be out of Iraq by the end of next year. This is the clear message[http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-02-12-troops-poll_x.htm]the American electorate is sending to President GeorgeW. Bush. On February 16 (2007), 56 percent of themembers of the U.S. House of Representativeessentially said the same thing when they adoptedResolution 63, by a vote of 246 against 182, in whichthey stated that "... Congress disapproves of thedecision of President George W. Bush announced onJanuary 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000additional United States combat troops to Iraq." And,to make it complete, 56 percent of U.S. Senatorssignified their opposition to the war on February 17(2007). These clear democratic signals of the people'swishes came after the November 7 (2006) election, inwhich pro-war Republican candidates took a thumping.They also came after a blue ribbon study group,[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Study_Group] theBaker-Hamilton Commission, unanimously concluded thatthe solution in Iraq is political and not military,and unanimously recommended that the U.S. terminateits open-ended presence in Iraq and begin itsdisengagement and “redeployment” from that country.You would think that politicians who respect democracyand the people's right to govern themselves would payattention and listen to what the sovereign electorateis saying. —But to no avail. The Bush-Cheney regime,initially placed into power by one Supreme judge[http://www.Democrats.com/node/11798] in 2000, afterpresidential candidate Al Gore[http://elandslide.org/display.cfm?id=181] won thepopular vote, went the other way and ordered amilitary build-up in the Persian Gulf, and, againstthe advice of the generals on the ground, ordered amilitary 'surge' in Iraq.[http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/salon_1_06_07.htm]It is a strange spectacle in a democracy when theinfluence of a few people trumps the will of themajority. The Bush-Cheney regime seems to be inclinedto follow the narrow advice of powerful lobbies ratherthan listen to what the electorate and electedofficials are saying. In Washington D.C., under GeorgeW. Bush and Dick Cheney, the American EnterpriseInstitute (AEI)[http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/01/06/aei/print.htmlhas more clout than the U.S. Congress. On January 14(2007), U.S. President George W. Bush[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/01/14/national/w100915S46.DTL]expressed his personal conception of democracy when hesaid: "... they [the Congress] could try to stop mefrom doing it. But I’ve made my decision. And we’regoing forward." —And two weeks later, on January 25(2007), oil-man Dick Cheney[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/25/politics/main2397224.shtml]reinforced this cynical point of view by saying, aftera Senate Committee adopted a resolution in oppositionto Bush's plan for a military escalation in Iraq: "Itwon't stop us"..."We are moving forward." ... "We needto get the job done." And Cheney added defiantly it's"hogwash to say Bush's credibility is at stake inIraq." It does not matter that the Bush-Cheney team has madecolossal errors of judgment,[http://www.antiwar.com/orig/odom.php?articleid=10396]they feel they have absolute powers in their hands andthey intend to use them for whatever project they havein mind, and damn the American public, damn theelected Congress, and damn world opinion. Indeed, thisregime has resurrected President Richard Nixon's oldand infamous philosophy of 'executive supremacy' andhas even gone further in adopting the anti-democratictheory of an "imperial presidency."[http://www.Democrats.com/Cheneys-Dead-Enders].According to this dangerous theory, there are nolimits to presidential wartime powers, even when nosuch war has been declared by Congress. In suchcircumstances of his own choosing, a president couldthen stop recognizing the authority of the electedCongress and refuse to accept the courts as finalarbiters of constitutional rights, each time heconsiders this role to be at odds with his vision ofnational security. Of course, such an outright grasp for power smacksdictatorship and represents a direct attack on theU.S. Constitution, with its Checks and Balances andthe Rule of Law at its center, provisions which havebeen precisely designed to avoid the pitfalls ofdictatorship. Maybe people should have paid moreattention when George W. Bush joked aloud that "Ifthis were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a loteasier, just so long as I'm the dictator." (December18, 2000), or when he proclaimed that "I'm thedecider, and I decide what's best.“ (April 14, 2006)As President and Father of the U.S. Constitution JamesMadison (1751-1836) put it: "There are more instancesof the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradualand silent encroachments of those in power than byviolent and sudden usurpations." In fact, mostconstitutional experts believe that Bush's claim foran imperial presidency is prima facie unconstitutionaland is not supported by anything in the U.S.Constitution.[http://www.fff.org/comment/com0604b.asp]. Inparticular, it has been pointed out that theBush-Cheney administration cannot invoke the October 22002 Iraq resolution[http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021002-2.html]as a blank check to claim absolute powers, becausethis resolution explicitly invoked the War PowersResolution (1976 War Powers Act),[http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=340251&rel_no=1]Section 2(b), which requires the President of theUnited States to gain congressional approval beforeany troop deployment abroad.Therefore, it remains to be seen if the Bush-Cheneyregime can go on challenging the American people,Congress and the courts for two more years, not evenconsidering international law and world publicopinion._______________________________________Rodrigue Tremblay[http://www.thenewamericanempire.com/author.htm] isprofessor emeritus of economics at the University ofMontreal and can be reached atrodrigue.tremblay@yahoo.com. He is the author of thebook 'The New AmericanEmpire'.[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0741418878/qid=1088897483/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/104-6665916-6565553?s=books&v=glance&n=283155]Visit his blog siteathttp://www.thenewamericanempire.com/blog. Author's Website: http://www.thenewamericanempire.com/ Check Dr. Tremblay's coming book 'The Code for GlobalEthics' at: http://www.moralitywithoutreligion.com_____________________________________Posted, February 26, 2007, at 5:30 amEmail to a friend:http://www.TheNewAmericanEmpire.com/tremblay=1059Send contact, comments or commercial reproductionrequests (in English or in French) to:bigpictureworld@yahoo.comN.B.: Messages may be published in our weblog, unlessyou request otherwise.Please register to receive free emails on new postingsof articles.Send an email with the word "subscribe" to:bigpictureworld@yahoo.com(Home: TheNewAmericanEmpire.com)© 2007- Big Picture World Syndicate, Inc
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