Question of the day: Do you worry about dictatorship?
I used to think suggesting that the United States might be slipping into dictatorship was over the top; but now I’m not so sure.
I’m not one of the people who think Bush may refuse to leave office in January of 2009. That’s not how I see freedom dying in America.
Freedom won’t die here in one dramatic explosion, with people waking up to find tanks in the streets: that won’t happen if for no other reason than that many of the people serving in those tanks would refuse to go along. No, if freedom dies here, it will die slowly, one inch at a time, or perhaps more accurately one compromise at a time. And under Bush that process is well under way.
It’s the insidiousness that will do us in. It will be like a garden that’s slowly overtaken by weeds. Viewed day to day, nothing dramatic is apparent, it’s only over time that the garden is completely made over and ultimately destroyed. Then one morning you get up, pour yourself a cup of coffee, step out onto your porch and say, “Jesus, when did all this happen?!”
But by then it may be too late.
That’s my take, anyway, what’s yours?
Caveat on comments: While comments are strongly encouraged, the Café reserves the right to decline posting any comment based upon management’s arbitrary and capricious decision making (why should Bill O’Reilly be the only one who gets to be that way?).
July 31st, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Golly! Didn’t I already say we were living in an elected dictatorship? Doesn’t NSPD 51 and HSPD 20 show that? And now doesn’t Exeutive Order 13315 pretty well confirm my earlier observation?
JEEZ!!
Chcuk
July 31st, 2007 at 1:59 pm
P.S. He & Cheney are probably the ones who orderd all those honey bees to be killed. Damned nuisances.
Chuck
August 1st, 2007 at 2:29 am
Yes, I worry about it because I believe the Bush Administration functions like a cult. Bush surrounds himself with sycophants and flunkies. He refuses to use logic to make decisions. He lacks compassion. He lacks intellectual curiosity. He adheres to the Neoconservative philosophy no matter who it may harm. He demands absolute loyalty. He can order the death of others without compunction. He sees only what he wishes to see. He hears only what he wishes to hear. He and the Neoconservatives want to destroy any regulatory functions in government and use the government as a vehicle that serves only the wealthy. He will lie, spin and manipulate information at the drop of a hat for self-serving purposes. He wants to spy on citizens, deny them their Constitutional freedoms, and control their freedom of speech. He is a demagogue. I do worry that his extremist views, his extraordinary rigidity, and his stated belief that he is on a divine mission could lead to extreme acts, worse than he has exhibited thus far. He has a Supreme Court in place to back him up, a hamstrung Congress, and severely corrupt Republican followers, both in and out of Congress. Where Bush is concerned, I discount nothing.
August 1st, 2007 at 10:53 am
I agree, Steve, it is a death by a thousand cuts. I read that Judge Roberts said much the same thing about ending abortion, that it would take a series of smaller rulings to eventually get Roe v Wade overturned. It will be the same for freedom of speech and every other freedom that seems to threaten the supreme authority of the executive. Little by little, inch by inch, we give up rights and liberties by uninformed consent.
For bush and Co. the Constitution is “just a scrap of paper” and laws are for other people to obey. That philosophy should create a sense of urgency for all Americans but as long as they can operate in secrecy and also in blatant disregard for the wishes and the values of the citizens, they will continue to RULE America through fiat and subterfuge. Only Americans can save themselves now.
It’s strange how many new terms we have learned from the actions of these liars. Insidious- hubris- extraordinary rendition- transfer tubes- enhanced interogation techniques- unitary executive- signing statements and of course…..nukular.
And sorting out all the Orwellian terms they use for their agenda is a full time job: clear skies meaning dirtier air, Healthy forests meaning cut down the trees and sell them to other countries, Freedom Agenda meaning we are free to kill anyone who won’t give is their oil, No child(of the rich) left behind,
and the non-existent compassionate conservative. What a legacy! A series of confusingly deceptive pieces of propaganda designed to divide and paralyze our country.
If only they weren’t such cowards, such insidious connivers. If only they would just say “We’re gonna get you and your little country too”, maybe people would march on DC. The sad truth is that the lies and the spin and the deceptions and the secrecy will continue until they are confident that the people have no power or at least no will to use their power. They have been wrong about every other assumption they have made and I believe thay will be wrong again. That “scrap of paper” contains the cure for an unbalanced king and the very threat of using it will scare the cowards to death.
The words Impeachment and Constitution should be tethered to bush like a pet goat.
August 1st, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Here’s a related question: Are any of the presidential hopefuls willing to go on record as willing to revoke the “anti-Patriot” act? Are any of them willing to “un-sign” all those signing statements? Are they willing to reinstate habeas corpus for EVERYONE? How many members–and who are they–of both houses would go along? The “justice” department? The Supreme Court?
Unless there are answer to these questions, all we will be doing is passing on dictatorial powers from one person to another, so why vote at all? (Habit I guess.)
“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutley.”
Pissed on Puget Sound
August 1st, 2007 at 10:43 pm
I agree with Chuck, we already have a dictatorship.
We have had a plutocracy for 100 year.
We have been suffereing the inches and cuts of liberty’s death for 50 years.
With Bush, we see the realization of the dictatorship.
Again, I agree with Chuck, I don’t hear one single Representative, Senator, Presidential Candidate, or politician of any sort saying that these draconian acts, proclaimations, and signing statements must be struck down.
Freedom is dying. There aren’t many cuts left to make.