July 2008 - I'm Back?
I'm not sure if I'm really returning or not, but I thought that, having sat out the NFL season and the primaries, I'd issue some random thoughts to the Blogger Servers that read this stuff (or at least store it).
America is not the country I thought it was. The ascension of the radical right, as partially documented in this half-assed blog, has shown clearly that Americans do not follow their Constitution. They follow Who's in Charge.
The closer the end of the Bush nightmare is, the more threadbare the cloak that has hidden the underpinnings of his power base. From afar and during his authoritarian heyday, it seemed like the Radical Right vs. Everybody Else. But now that Everybody Else is more powerful (or at least more popular) than Georgie, we can see that it wasn't just Bill Frist and Tom Delay who powered the authoritarian engine - it was Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and the rest of the Democrats as well.
Many of the progressive blogger I read refer to some sort of "village" that houses the hyper-insulated power class of Washington elitists. These like-minded villagers (no matter their label) mutually protect their positions and actively fight any influence from the dirty rabble that elects their leaders. Fine.
But where does torture fit into the picture? What about lies and illegal spying and massive pointless bloodletting? What happened to a country that - as I believed growing up - universally viewed Nixon as a criminal? Nixon has absolutely NOTHING on this group. And yet, there were enough Americans in Congress to force him to resign under threat of impeachment (or worse).
Where did they go? How can Democrats sign on to the torture-spy-invade regime that has brought America so low?
It must be true - as all the evidence points that way - that Americans only follow power. By that reasoning, it's up to those who are in power to refuse to break the law and their enemies thumbs. Sure, the Constitution is supposed to provide a wall against real true thuggery, but Bush has shown that if we don't hold that wall up it easily falls.
Look at the subpoenas issued to the likes of Karl Rove (a Soviet operative if ever there was one). Those are supposed to be binding. If you don't show up, you go to jail. But Bush people just ignore them. No worries - just don't show. And that's the end of it. The entire framework of our government is rendered null and void. Just don't show.
So there's the truth of the matter: presidential power is limited only by the grasp of the executive. If previous presidents have been less than complete tyrants, that was only because it was their choice. Americans have proven to be meek followers, or at least nihilists who are only looking out for their own good.
Welcome to the Right Wing future. Think Obama will save you? Ask him how he voted in the last FISA bill.
America is not the country I thought it was. The ascension of the radical right, as partially documented in this half-assed blog, has shown clearly that Americans do not follow their Constitution. They follow Who's in Charge.
The closer the end of the Bush nightmare is, the more threadbare the cloak that has hidden the underpinnings of his power base. From afar and during his authoritarian heyday, it seemed like the Radical Right vs. Everybody Else. But now that Everybody Else is more powerful (or at least more popular) than Georgie, we can see that it wasn't just Bill Frist and Tom Delay who powered the authoritarian engine - it was Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and the rest of the Democrats as well.
Many of the progressive blogger I read refer to some sort of "village" that houses the hyper-insulated power class of Washington elitists. These like-minded villagers (no matter their label) mutually protect their positions and actively fight any influence from the dirty rabble that elects their leaders. Fine.
But where does torture fit into the picture? What about lies and illegal spying and massive pointless bloodletting? What happened to a country that - as I believed growing up - universally viewed Nixon as a criminal? Nixon has absolutely NOTHING on this group. And yet, there were enough Americans in Congress to force him to resign under threat of impeachment (or worse).
Where did they go? How can Democrats sign on to the torture-spy-invade regime that has brought America so low?
It must be true - as all the evidence points that way - that Americans only follow power. By that reasoning, it's up to those who are in power to refuse to break the law and their enemies thumbs. Sure, the Constitution is supposed to provide a wall against real true thuggery, but Bush has shown that if we don't hold that wall up it easily falls.
Look at the subpoenas issued to the likes of Karl Rove (a Soviet operative if ever there was one). Those are supposed to be binding. If you don't show up, you go to jail. But Bush people just ignore them. No worries - just don't show. And that's the end of it. The entire framework of our government is rendered null and void. Just don't show.
So there's the truth of the matter: presidential power is limited only by the grasp of the executive. If previous presidents have been less than complete tyrants, that was only because it was their choice. Americans have proven to be meek followers, or at least nihilists who are only looking out for their own good.
Welcome to the Right Wing future. Think Obama will save you? Ask him how he voted in the last FISA bill.
posted by fiduciary at 11:25 AM
1 Comments:
Good to see you back writing, amigo.
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