If we do get a dem president, will he/she roll back the * power grabs???

[The Straight Story]

I sure hope so, but I wonder if they will just let such things sit around in the background.

I know I should think better of fellow dems in power, but I just don't. Bring home the troops, roll back the patriot act, the torture crap, et al - do you see someone coming into power willing to stand up the first few days in office and call for a roll back of things??

And IF they don't - will be defending them then saying things like 'well, it might make us look weak and lose votes, etc and blah blah, so we should focus on other things instead'?

Dems are, rightly so, bitching about such things and maybe I have not been paying enough attention but I don't see folks running on the idea of rolling back all of it.

At times my tinfoil is on so tight it hurts and I wonder if it is all not a bigger picture where the players are from the same acting company just wearing different garb with different lines while still all being part of the same core play.

Toss a bone to group X while glossing over the bigger picture.

My message to dems: you get in power you best roll back this crap, eliminate it, from spying without warrants to habeus corpus, and get this country back on track.

[C_U_L8R]

1. do you have something against waterboarding freepers ?

hahaha

kidding


not really

hahaha

[Kutjara]

2. Politicians are, first and foremost, politicians.

Their primary motivation is the acquisition and manipulation of power. I would be very surprised if the next President, Repug, Dem or Save the Gay Whales Party, does anything more than 'give back' a few minor powers (or slightly modify existing ones), for the sake of appearances.

Those whose lives are spent in the pursuit of power are incapable of relinquishing it.

[The Straight Story]

4. That's a damned depressing view of things...

but probably pretty accurate.

[BlooInBloo]

15. The deepest problem with America is the fundamental hopelessness...

... of its public.

You guys are excellent examples of this.

[TomInTib]

7. Right on the money, Kutjara.

And I would add re-election.

For what good is power if it cannot be maintained?

[orwell]

3. Probably Not...

...You know what they say about absolute power...

[blm]

5. Kerry said it can be done overnight. I want more. I want the books OPENED

on BushInc, so the American people can be RESPECTED for once as CITIZENS - infiormed citizens - and not manipulated into feeling one way or the another - just give the facts and the truth and let the chips fall where they may.

[file83]

17. I agree - I want Washington DC turned upside down and shaken...

...I want to see what falls out of 5 straight years of investigations, special committees, etc...

There is SO much corruption going on right now it's dizzying.

[jobycom]

6. Of course not

Simple Machievelli. You seize power during emergencies, you make a show of giving some of it back when things have settled. You make excuses for keeping the rest of it. Say Kucinich wins. His argument would be "I need the power to make the drastic changes necessary, then I will give it back." Say Hillary wins. "The previous regime has caused such damage that I need the power to fix it." No president would give up power.

That's the beauty of the Federal system. Checks and balances. The president gets more power by stealing it from Congress and the Courts (and the people). The other branches get jealous, and steal some back. If Congress gets shaken up this November, the message they get will be "If you want to stay in power, make it better for the people." So THEY start to take back some of the power the presidency has stolen. People are made about our fading rights? Congress gives us some rights back. Congress curtails the president.

That's the way it's supposed to work. It does work, too. Not perfectly, not the way any of us would like. But it does work. No one will ever give back power. With three co-equal branches of government, though, there is always a vested interest for the weaker two to weaken the most powerful.

[upi402]

8. DINO's have refused to stand up to him

It depends who it is, not which party it is. Many DINO's have just waved BushCo on -as he strode off with our rights and freedoms and treasure.

[Chan790]

9. Cynical as I may be,

I think they have to. Too many Americans feel too strongly about this for them to pay it mere lip service unless they want to see Congress swing GOP again in 2008, then further in 2010 and 2012. Lip service and absolute power only take you so far when people actually care and are paying attention.

If Dems don't roll back the GOP gestapo tactics, it'll be the end of the American Left. period. End of story, they'll have sold the farm.

[Cleita]

10. I don't think Hillary would. I hope I am wrong, but

the entrenched Beltway types I don't think would. If we fix our election system between now and then, I hope we will get the leaders we need.

[status quo buster]

11. Will Dems get us back on track, restore our democracy?

Not if they don't get rid of all the corrupting money; they should pass a federal Clean Money/Clean Election law and get all the corrupting money out of political campaigns.

[Change has come]

13. I'm on-board with that

Welcome to DU

[blm]

14. There were 5 senators for Clean Money, Clean Elections in 1997 when it

was written and submitted. I would bet more would sign on the next time around.

[sandnsea]

12. Some would, some wouldn't

Some stuff would go right away, some would be changed significantly but likely not enough for some on the far left. How much and how fast depends completely on the person. Democrats better be damned careful who they back as a candidate for 2008. Hillary is clearly not on my list of people I'd trust to roll anything back. The rest, well, we'll see.

[Imagevision]

16. Dems will start with: "well it's going to take some time to right the GOP

wrong-doings however we will preepare a comprehensive list of blah-blah-blah...!
they too are poilticians!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. Some would, but others would go all "bipartisan" on us

We need someone bold and unafraid to be unpopular with the Republicans, but the political process doesn't favor such figures.

Too many of the alleged frontrunners have a history of caving in to the Republicans. (And yes, I'm a purist in that respect. I dislike it when political figures cave in to evil.)

[soothsayer]

19. I hope so, but there's sometimes just a superficial difference

between the parties, it seems

[hootinholler]

20. They will about a half hour after finishing waterboarding the cabal

In Madison Square Garden live on every freaking channel.

-Hoot