You think I joke? Exaggerate? Not one bit.
The Signing Statements Bush has been using clearly indicate he considers himself above the law (as if that's a surprise to most of us), in that he can interpet any law to suit himself. That means he is, by definition, more than and above the law. Of all Bush's sins and crimes, this -- IF it continues to go unchallenged -- is by far the most dangerous threat to our democracy yet. It goes way beyond the NSA spying IMO. And to date there have been HUNDREDS of these signing statements. See John Dean's column:
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20060113.htmlThat's bad enough, but it's only one half of the frightful equation. The other half is that the Bush administration is already in the habit of ignoring laws and court orders with impunity. As just one example:
Bush admin refuses to release IRS audit records.
and this link:
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/nation/13583571.htmSo what would it take to get the administration to follow any given law? One would think the Supreme Court would be the court of last resort. With Roberts on the bench, it's hard to tell just yet but I know of no reason to be optimistic. However, if Alito is confirmed, he's the one who developed the idea of these Signing Statements in the first place, originally for Reagan:
Alito Once Made Case For Presidential Power
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/01/AR2006010100788.htmlIf confirmed, would Alito do anything to go against his own great idea? or would he support Bush's umlimited power? Chances are he'd do what he was put on the bench to do, and that is affirm the Constitutionality of these Signing Statements.
And that means:
Bingo! We will have an ipso facto dictatorship. No law Congress or anyone else could pass, no ruling any court could make, could force the Bush administration to do anything they didn't want to do. That, my friends, is a dictatorship. And that means that forcing the Bush administration to follow any law or court order would require physical force.
If Alito is confirmed, I fear for this nation, and I will warn that anyone who feels the need to leave should do so. It will be the last straw for democracy because it will utterly remove any possibility of counterbalance or challenge or restraint of the untrammeled executive power this administration has accrued and continues to accrue, along with its abuse.
If the Democrats don't filibuster,
they will be the ones who allowed put the final nail in the coffin of this democratic republic. All because they want to go along and get along and not make waves.
As for the rest of us, we should've been on THEIR backs ceaselessly since the 2000 election -- not Dec. 12, but starting with their inaction right after the election. With every day, week and month, things have only gotten worse, and still it's not worse enough for them to stand up to it. When does it become obvious to the rest of us that we're waiting and asking and calling and writing for something that will never happen?
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