Cheney really wants U.S. dictator...(Sun-Times)

[SoCalDem]

Cheney really wants U.S. dictator
http://www.suntimes.com/output/greeley/cst-edt-greel07.html
July 7, 2006

BY ANDREW GREELEY

In the winter of 1933, before Franklin Roosevelt's first inauguration on March 4, there was a clamor in the United States for a military dictatorship. The banks were closing, a quarter of Americans were unemployed, rebellion threatened on the farms. Only drastic reforms, mandated by the president's power as commander in chief, would save the country. Something like the fascism of Mussolini's Italy -- viewed benignly by many Americans in those days because it worked (or so everyone said) -- would save the country from communist revolution. As Jonathan Alter reminds us in The Defining Moment, his brilliant book about FDR's first 100 days, men as different as William Randolph Hearst, financier Bernard Baruch, commentator Lowell Thomas and establishment columnist Walter Lipmann argued for the necessity of dictatorship to reorganize the country's economy.

The call for a military style dictatorship is the ultimate temptation to the greatest treason of a democratic society. Fortunately for us, FDR resisted the temptation and reformed the American economy by a mix of gradualist changes (like Social Security) and magical "fireside chats." Unfortunately years later he yielded to the temptation to a military dictatorship when he interned Japanese Americans simply because they were Japanese. In the first case he resisted the demands of the American people. In the second he caved in to their racist demands.

The United States is caught up in a new campaign for a military dictatorship -- rule by a military chief with absolute power. The White House, inspired by Vice President Dick Cheney, has argued that in time of great danger, the president has unlimited powers as commander in chief. If he cites "national security" he can do whatever he wants -- ignore Congress, disobey laws, disregard the courts, override the Constitution's Bill of Rights -- without being subject to any review. Separation of powers no longer exists. The president need not consult Congress or the courts. Moreover the rights of the commander in chief to act as a military dictator lasts as long as the national emergency persists, indefinitely that is and permanently.

Many, perhaps most Americans, don't mind. The president is "tough on terrorists" and that's all that matters. What is the Bill of Rights anyway? George W. Bush, his supporters will argue, is a good man, even a godly man. He won't misuse the powers, even if the power he claims is no less than Don Hugo Chavez exercises in Venezuela

snip.....

[Patchuli]

1. We the People

need to show the wealthy that it's not what they want but what we, the majority want. They are a tiny minority...we could cramp their style immensely if we so chose!

[Reckon]

21. Boycott everyone that funds this dictatorship.

It is the only way and time is running out!

[Patchuli]

22. Boycotts are powerful

but so would taking to the streets. Imagine if 10,000,000 of us showed up at the White House, or more...!

[Reckon]

24. That could be what they're hoping for.

They would probably send brown shirts to mix with the crowd to incite a riot so they can declare marshal law.

[Patchuli]

25. Would the 'brown shirts' attack their

own families...? Would the military come to the aid of the citizens? Interesting thoughts...

[whistle]

2. Dick Cheney wants fascism, pure and simple

[City Lights]

3. So does bush.

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." ~ the chimp, December 18, 2000.

I love Andrew Greely's columns. Thanks for posting this. :hi:

[JohnnyRingo]

4. Very enlightening article

I wasn't aware of the post depression era interest in a dictatorship.

I guess it's easy to see the temptation for strong permanent leadership during desperate times, but beware when those who seek to install themselves into permanent office are the ones who pushed the country to the brink to begin with.

Thanx for posting.

[diamondsndust]

5. We need to rid ourselves of this scumbag...

I've said all along that darth cheney was the mastermind of this coup. Yes, the shrub is just as dumb as he acts and he's just a figurehead. This is why cheney has said from the beginning that he wouldn't be running for President... he doesn't intend to run, he just intends to take over.

[unhappycamper]

6. Unless a military man of courage steps up, it could happen.

Fortunately, Smedley D. Butler http://www.carpenoctem.tv/cons/whitehouse.html">stepped up and prevented the takeover. Major General Butler was an interesting character. If you're not familiar with him, check out this 1935 pamphlet he wrote, "War is a Racket."

Do we have any military leaders of conciousness today? Or have they all been retired?

[LiberalPartisan]

9. I have more faith in the officer corp

than the public or the politicians. Wouldn't it be the height of irony if it took the military to save democracy in the US?

[unhappycamper]

11. It would be but.......

I don't have a lot of faith in the current leadership.

[SensibleAmerican]

14. Bullpucky, FDR was NOT a military man

If you're trying to say that people of the likes of Wesley Clark are the only people competent to guide us through our problems, I point you to Howard Dean, John Edwards, Bill Clinton (if he could run again), Hillary Clinton (who's a woman, and that's what I like about her) ...

[Selatius]

18. Gen. Smedley Butler opposed the failed coup against FDR

When a military coup is launched against your government, it is no longer pens you use but arms instead.

"My interest is, my one hobby is, maintaining a democracy. If you get these 500,000 soldiers advocating anything smelling of Fascism, I am going to get 500,000 more and lick the hell out of you, and we will have a real war right at home."

-- Gen. Smedley Butler, after being asked by Gerald Maguire to organize WWI vets to launch a coup against FDR as revealed in congressional testimony in 1934.

[pnwmom]

7. In case anyone wasn't aware, Andrew Greeley is a Catholic priest.

He ends the essay on a strikingly clear note.

"Richard Cheney is a vile, indeed evil, influence in American political life. He is a very dangerous person who would if he could destroy American freedom about which he and his mentor prate hypocritically. His long years in Washington have caused him to lose faith in the legislative and judicial processes of the government. The country, he believes, requires a much stronger executive. Such concentrated power would have been necessary even if the World Trade Center attack had not occurred. He uses the fear of terrorists as a pretext to advance his agenda of an all powerful president, a military dictator. So long, of course, as he is a Republican."

[tiptoe]

8. Lazy CEO Cheney "created 9/11 reality" as premise for his Dumbo Dictator

http://colorado911visibility.org/JonesPP4web/img78.html

...the 9/11 atrocity represents an instance of the approach--which has been identified by Karl Rove, the President's closest adviser--of "creating our own reality."

From EXPERTS CLAIM OFFICIAL 9/11 STORY IS A HOAX: Scholars for 9/11 Truth call for verification and publication by an international consortium.

Cheney's neocon a** is exposed, and he needs an invented dumbo dictator to protect him.

Other "projects" of the Neocons as extension of the "created 911 atrocity reality": see The Treason Card By Paul Krugman

[LiberalPartisan]

10. On 9-11 Cheney, Bush and the neocons danced

for joy - their prayers having been answered.

[Ravy]

12. Their oath is to defend the Constitution, not the people (n/t)

[Eric J in MN]

13. He calls Cheney "evil."

From
http://www.suntimes.com/output/greeley/cst-edt-greel07.html

Richard Cheney is a vile, indeed evil, influence in American political life. He is a very dangerous person who would if he could destroy American freedom about which he and his mentor prate hypocritically. His long years in Washington have caused him to lose faith in the legislative and judicial processes of the government. The country, he believes, requires a much stronger executive. Such concentrated power would have been necessary even if the World Trade Center attack had not occurred. He uses the fear of terrorists as a pretext to advance his agenda of an all powerful president, a military dictator. So long, of course, as he is a Republican.

[Odin2005]

15. We were THIS close to having a Fascist or Stalinist coup.

FDR (according to my US History proffessor) supposedly said something to the extent that if he failed, the republic was doomed.

[rman]

16. Comparing * dictatorship with Chavez is disingenuous,

just feeding the idea that those who oppose US exploitation of Latin America are evil; the usual RW crap. Chavez doesn't have dictatorial powers.

[Selatius]

17. Hugo Chavez won an internationally monitored election with 59 percent

Technically, it was a recall referendum, not an election, but it may as well have been his third election in six years. (1998, 2000, and the referendum in 2004) If Chavez ruled despite the people's mandate instead of with respect to the people's mandate, he'd be a dictator, and he never would've had an election after the first one installed him, period.

Hugo Chavez' authority is vast, and the American equivalent with respect to the level of authority he holds is Franklin Roosevelt or Abraham Lincoln. Unlike Franklin Roosevelt, however, the coup against Chavez got further along than with Roosevelt's case.

[SoCalDem]

20. The US wants Chavez G O N E .. I hope he's got good bodyguards

The irony is that had our govt not tried such a bungled ouster a few years ago, before oil went sky high and filled Venezuela's coffers, Hugo might not still be president ...

[malaise]

19. K & R n/t

[Reckon]

23. Call to unite!

Boycott everyone that funds this dictatorship.

It is the only way and time is running out!