Not a Bush Hater
But a constitution lover
My "Scandals Galore" postings and many of the quotes I select for my daily quotes column usually are very critical of our president. Perhaps I appear to merely be a congenital Bush hater, but I have two confessions to make. First, in 2000 I partially bought the "compassionate conservatism" image and was relieved that, if Gore lost, at least we would have a moderate Republican in office. Second, when it appeared very early on that Bush was going to take a cautious response to 9/11, I even said that I was glad to have a Republican president, because he would best be able to rally every one behind not nuking every Arab nation.
Now, while it is true that I find Bush repugnant, I am more scared than mad. I once said, "How much harm can one man do?" The past six years have given me a disturbing answer to that question. We are no longer talking about policy differences–and they are large–but instead are alarmed by more fundamental constitutional issues. No one has carried the idea of an "imperial presidency" to such extreme as Bush. The idea of an independent executive branch taking unconstitutional (and even illegal) actions without any oversight should terrify everyone. Even if you agree with Bush’s actions, remember that he will not always be president. Think, Bush supporters, do you want to give that kind of power to every president–even leftist ones?
We simply can not afford to sit back and do nothing. Does anyone have suggestions as to what we can do as individuals to protect our constitution against this dangerous assault?
posted by Old Fogey @ 12:32 PM | Top o' the Cracks
2 comments
2 Comments:
I see it's confession time. OK, I supported the war at first.. based on the evidence presented, and because I am former military and have a good grasp of what can be accomplished. Of course anyone who reads me knows I am totaly against the war and have completely changed course in my thinking.
Amen, Old Fogey.
I found myself with a similar reaction upon the Supreme Court's final decision over Bush v Gore. I was in Reno, working the then-voluntary (aka, mandatory) holiday push at the distribution center. Coming off of the overnight shift, I woke up to the heartbreaking news in the middle of the afternoon but I didn't feel devastated as it seemed that Bush was fairly centrist on the campaign trail. And I imagined that the closeness of the election would mitigate some of the hubris.
Yowsah, was I wrong.
But then I gave him another chance, as did Old Fogey, after 9/11/2001, when I was taken aback by the seeming restraint of the usage of military might. Of course, now we know that they were holding back for the "fuller" (though certainly under-staged) onslaught of Iraq.
They say time + tragedy = comedy. But the bungling is no longer laughable with thousands of lives accountable to the overt choices and sheer incompetance that the BushCo Gang has exhibited these last six years.
And it doesn't matter if you supported the war or opposed it. (But we're glad you've changed course, B.) What matters now, more than anything, is an open mind and the strength to demand answers from our leaders. As to OF's question about what we can do as individuals, I'm frankly at a loss as to what avenue to go down. Maybe I'm just feeling drained from the continual march of corruption, evasion (and reckless flaunting) of laws, and undermining of core American values that has been processing these last few weeks. I dunno. But it's hard for me to see a solution as I really don't think these f***ers give a damn.
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