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 If this were a dictatorship,
it would be a heck of a lot easier... just so long as I'm the dictator.”
George Walker Bush,
2000
Was this a really a joke? Back
in 2000 many thought so. But was George in jest? Maybe there was more
to that remark than bad taste. Maybe it was a private prank on the American
people.
That was then, but this is
now: It’s not a joke anymore. It’s reality.
With the help of three posturing Senators and a spineless, corrupt Congress,
the Military Commissions
Act of 2006 has
been imposed upon the Republic. For those still in the dark, under this
law George W. Bush has the full power not only to decide who is a threat
but also to order his Praetorian Guard to haul the suspect away to whatever
end. Neither courts nor Congress nor citizenry have legal recourse or
protection from the wrath of Emperor George.
George W. Bush got exactly what he wanted. George Walker Bush is
a dictator.
Things will become a lot easier
for him from here on. Of course in Bush’s “mind,” he is still
busy “protecting us.”
But, we all know that the real
purpose of the law is to protect Bush from Americans. From opposing
views, Bush shields himself; to dissent he is deaf. This is how he has
always run his administration. Thou shalt not disagree.
This is the way of dictatorships.
Who will be the first innocent
American to fall prey to this heinous new law? Who will be the first
citizen to be arrested under George’s orders, tried (maybe) under
a Military Tribunal and then disappear?
That poor soul will be painted
as a threat to American security. Any American loyal to the Republic
and the US Constitution who is possessed with the courage to be vocal
will be a threat to Bush. Those who speak out are always the first to be quieted.
This is the way of dictatorships.
Will it be a highly visible
critic? Will Keith Olbermann be framed and fired? Will Cindy Sheehan be arrested…
again; this time to be shuffled away to Guantanamo for keeps? At the
very least, Camp Crawford has to be an eyesore to Bush. Those in power
always consider protesters threats.
What about the great lampooners? How about Bill
Maher or Jon Stewart? Maybe Stephen Colbert will be the first. His sense of humor
seemed too much like the truth to the press corps gathered in Washington
DC last spring:
"Here's how it works:
the president makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary
announces those decisions and you people in the press type them down.
Make, announce, type. Just put them through a spell check and go home!"
In Bush's world would Mark
Twain be safe upholding the tradition of poking fun at the President
all and sundry and thus enjoy his Constitutionally guaranteed right to
freedom of expression? Doubtful. To paraphrase the late Joe McCarthy
-- Are you now or have you ever been making fun of George W. Bush?
This very moment, is the White
House drawing up a list entitled “Enemies of Bush”? Are you on it?
I probably am.
Will journalists who report
the truth about the Bush regime simply cease to appear in print? Will
Internet sites hosting dissent be shut down? Will the FCC play
a role? Will lewrockwell.com be shut down in
the interest of “national security” simply because his site
has been critical of Bush?
This is the way of dictatorships.
The voices of reason, debate
and dissent will be silenced. They will be replaced by voices of those
who are not “stumped by morality.” The US Constitution and the Bill
of Rights will cease to protect US citizens from tyranny. “Elected
officials” (oxymoron) will be nothing more than cringing servants
of The Master. The courts will be nothing more than rubber stamps for the Will of Bush.
This is the way of dictatorships.
Ordinary citizens will display
the American flag not out of pride but from fear lest they vanish overnight.
Americans will be careful to be seen as “with Bush” rather than
against Bush. The artificial, paranoid fear of terrorists will be replaced
by a very real fear of our own government. And finally, when everyone
speaks in hushed tones of “disappeared” people whom once they
knew, will it dawn on Americans what a precious thing they have traded
for the “security” of George W. Bush?
This is the way of dictatorships.
Welcome to The New American
Century.
Elizabeth Gyllensvard edited
and contributed to this story.
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The Bush administration has continued to issue signing statements for new laws.
Bush recently okayed the 2007 military budget bill, but then issued a statement challenging 16 of its provisions.
The original legislation bars the Pentagon from using any intelligence that was collected illegally, including information about Americans that was gathered in violation of the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable government surveillance.
Yet in Bush's signing statement, he suggested that he alone could decide whether the Pentagon could use such information. His signing statement instructed the military to view the law in light of ``the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief, including for the conduct of intelligence operations, and to supervise the unitary executive branch."
Bush also challenged three sections that require the Pentagon to notify Congress before diverting funds to new purposes, including top-secret activities or programs. Congress had already decided against funding. Bush said he was not bound to obey such statutes if he decided, as commander in chief, that withholding such information from Congress was necessary to protect security secrets.
PDF here
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33667.pdf