Last week “Frontline,” on PBS, presented a chilling documentary about Dick Cheney’s long campaign to free the Executive Branch from all constitutional checks and balances. Cheney, after 9-11, is quoted as saying that “it will be necessary for us to be a nation of men, and not laws.” Cheney has been as good as his word.
It is one thing to contemplate the individual examples of Bush-Cheney criminality in isolation. It is quite another to see them lumped together in chronological order, as in the “Frontline” piece. It makes quite an impression. The Bush-Cheney administration really is a criminal enterprise. And a proud one too.
At least the Nixon administration felt some shame about it’s criminal actions, and tried to hide them. Bush and Cheney feel no such shame. Instead, they loves their crimes. After all, in their view they are good men trying to do good things.
Has their law-breaking done any good? Who knows. It’s a national security secret. But even if we assume the best about the Bush-Cheney gang, can we assume the same about the next gang, or the one after that?
Cheney clearly feels no concern about this. He and Bush both seem eager that future administrations should be just as lawless as their own. Indeed, the Bush administration has been briefing Hillary Clinton with a view to having her continue their policies according to this article. Does Dick love Hillary?
What are we to make of this, except that Bush and Cheney think the exercise of unchecked presidential power is good in-and-of itself, and that they want America to be governed by the whims of men, and women, forevermore, and never again by laws duly passed and duly obeyed.
Is this what we want? Is this what you want?
We are innocent of this criminality so long as we do not submit to it. But if we are silent then we assent by default, becoming unnamed co-conspirators in a criminal regime. Many in Congress want to take this approach, submitting to the lawlessness rather than run the risk of being blamed for the next terrorist attack.
When all about us cringe in terror of the terrorists, and of those who would foment fear to gain power, what will we do? We want to ask you to do two things . . .
Hit Congress yet again, asking them to repeal the “Protect America Act,” which legalizes illegal spying on Americans in violation of the 4th Amendment. You can do that here In your personal comments ask Congress to restore the requirement for individualized warrants for wiretapping of U.S. communications and email. Also request that there be no immunity for telecommunications companies that broke the law by permitting the government to conduct illegal surveillance of their customers’ phone calls and emails.
