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archived: 27 Mar - 2 Apr, 2005 Back Next UPDATED: March 29, 2005 HYPOCRITE-IN-CHIEF Constitutional democracy is dead in America. We are no longer governed by a tripartite system that is predicated on the separation of powers. Power has been consolidated in the executive branch where it is wielded by the public relations staff of the sitting president. Due process of law is now history. The dissolution of constitutional democracy and its replacement by a unicameral presidential government is nothing less than dictatorship. The modus operandi of the post-constitutional phase of American history is public relations elevated to a higher power. The White House demarcates the lines of acceptability and decorum for the US media. That a large proportion of the US media willingly comply with the restrictions placed upon them by the Bush White House proves the point. In order to sustain the facade of political legitimacy, Bush is compelled to utter an infinite chain of platitudes about his reverence for freedom and democracy. However, the truth is diametrically opposed to his ludicrous psychobabble. Under Bush, the constitution has suffered a fatal attack. The powers of the state have been augmented beyond the levels enshrined in the constitution by the founding fathers. None of them – save Alexander Hamilton – would countenance Bush’s core policies: The Patriot Act and The War Powers Act. Both of these acts destroy what was left of constitutional democracy, and the events of the last two presidential elections set the stage for the current era of American dictatorship. Our political culture is corrupt beyond the imaginings of any of the founding fathers save Benjamin Franklin who warned that constitutional democracy would - one day in what seemed like a distant future – eventually give way to despotism. That day has definitely arrived, and it has now become history. We have now entered terra incognita, a land of unfamiliar territories far beyond the realm of American democracy; we are now lost in a new and deeply warped span of uncharted time. Many writers, not the least of whom is our own redoubtable, Dr. Steven Jonas, have warned us that the trajectory of the Bush administration is perfectly fascist. This is an inescapable conclusion. Those right-wing cynics who point out that there is still a river of immigration into America are missing the point. I forgive them. Everything they know is wrong, because they are being lied to by their Orwellian government. Bush has no understanding of American history. Neither does he possess any kernel of information about the history of the constitution. He has probably never read the document even though he has taken at least two very public oaths to protect and defend it. He believes that the constitutional language in his oath of office refers to national security, being Commander-in-Chief, leading the Pentagon and protecting the homeland from the, “evil-doers,” but he is wrong. He is dead wrong. It means protecting the people and their civil rights and liberties enshrined in the constitution from the unacceptable growth of the powers of the state. Bush received a relatively good education. But his problem is that he retained little of it, and then he did nothing with the last remaining fragments of what little he had been able to retain. Bush squandered what little he managed to learn by devoting himself to a life of political prostitution, continuously presenting himself as an influence peddler for his father’s awesome political power. That is the role that eventually transformed him from wastrel into prodigal son; into born-again political mercenary; baseball entrepreneur and professional bribemaster; into Governor of Texas and, finally, (let us hope) into President. Along the way, the Bush political machine realized that they needed a new candidate to occupy the oval office to launch their Project for a New American Century (PNAC). Halliburton CEO, Dick Cheney (who had inherited the reigns of the Bush machine from Pappa Bush who had gone on to bigger and better things like evangelizing for Reverend Sun Myung Moon and directing the Carlyle Group) settled for GWB at the head of the ticket and placed himself in control as the Strangelovian VP he has become. That Bush’s elaborate and alarmist constructions of the war against Iraq have gone down the tubes along with his lost, misplaced and fantastic desires to find and destroy Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction, as well as the Orwellian lie of Saddam’s involvement in 9/11 or any of the proliferating plethora of prevarications poring out of Bush’s mouth pales into insignificance beside the human tragedy of Terry Schiavo. Here is the case of a woman horribly brain-damaged and reduced to a comatose vegetative state fifteen years ago who has been mercilessly used as a political football by George W. Bush, Jeb Bush, Bill Frist, M.D. and countless other right-wing hacks desperate to excite the pro-life base of the Republican Party. Hillary Clinton should take note. Her recent excursions in search of pro-life Democrats were unsound politically. The pro-lifers will never in one billion light years support her or anybody else whom she supports for the presidency. They are single-issue monomaniacs zealous for confrontation with reason. They would like to see Terry Schiavo live in her state of artificially suspended animation until the Rapture in spite of the fact that she told her husband that she dreaded and disapproved of the use of life support. Nineteen judges on seven courts have adjudicated the case of Terry Schiavo. Nineteen judges have held that her last wishes should be honored. George W. Bush, Jeb Bush, Bill Frist, M.D. and their ilk are aching to see Terry Schiavo suffer on life support which they fervently pray will shift public opinion to the right for even one nanosecond. This political torture of Terry Schiavo is the most invasive growth of government in recorded history. Nobody denies her the right to life, but now that she is on the verge of death, the Bush White House is attempting to deny her the dignity of leaving this life on her own terms. In effect, they want to deny Terry Schiavo her liberty and her pursuit of happiness. Big Brother has become President, and he is now threatening to demolish each and every one of our lives while calmly praying to his version of the Almighty and attaching us to the Matrix of suspended animation and an eternity of cruel and unusual torture by life support. This rancid catastrophe has been brought about for one reason: Bush is in political trouble. His popularity is at an all time low of 45%. His opus magnum, the privatization of social security, is a non-starter and dead as the proverbial door nail. His foreign policy is in ruins, and his Secretary of State is now in Asia apologizing for many gaffes made by the Bush White House including the outrageous claim that North Korea sold nuclear weapons technology directly to Libya. North Korea sold its technology to Pakistan, and Pakistan sold it on to Libya. Bush and Rice know this, but they are busy telling the world, “Never mind what we say! Do what you are told!” It is no wonder that US prestige is at an all time low; the dollar is dropping, and General Motors’ credit rating is being lowered to junk bond status. While Bush was Governor of Texas, he supported legislation to remove patients from costly life support systems when medical hope was exhausted. Last week, an Afro-American child named Sun Hudson was removed from life support in Texas. George Bush, Jeb Bush and Bill Frist, M.D. did not offer one whimper about the fate of Sun Hudson. Sun Hudson was black. Terry Schiavo is white. Therein lies the rub. American fundamentalism is largely racist, largely sexist and largely insensitive to the pain and suffering of humans. Bush even had the gall to try to explain his tortuous position. When pro-life principles are involved, Bush told his press conference that you should always side with life. Is that what he did as Governor of Texas? Absolutely not. He is the most prolific executioner in American history, and he eagerly supported the removal of life support from the Sun Hudsons of Texas. Did the pusillanimous White House press corps cross-examine the Prevaricator-in-Chief. No, they most certainly did not. Karl Rove has put zippers on the mouths and bars on the minds of the US press and media. Bush advocated freedom and democracy for the Middle East, but we have learned from high-ranking officials in Iraq that the election results were rigged to reduce the power of the United Iraqi Alliance that demands the withdrawal of US forces. According to reliable reports, the United Iraqi Alliance received 56% of the vote instead of the 48% recorded by the corrupt elections officials working under the watchful eye of Bush’s twin surrogates at the time of the election, John Negroponte and Iyad Allawi. In America, John Conyers informs us that Ohio was rigged to deliver the Electoral College to Bush in 2004. Where are Bush’s democratic credentials? They are nowhere in the known universe. Bush is entitled to at least one credential – Hypocrite-in-Chief, the new official title of the head of our post-constitutional government of dictatorship by public relations. Sources (all blue hyperlinks are active)
Sidney Blumenthal, A confederacy of
shamans
William Rivers Pitt, Dictators,
Tyrants and Fools
Scott Ritter, Hijacking Democracy in
Iraq __________________ Since 1968, Michael Carmichael has been a professional political consultant. Beginning as a Student Coordinator for Robert F. Kennedy, he has worked in five US presidential campaigns as well as over 100 major American political campaigns for federal and state offices. In 1985, he founded The Oxford Centre for Public Affairs in the United Kingdom. In 2003, he founded The Planetary Movement Limited, a global political action organization based in the United Kingdom.
Last Update: 03/23/2006 |
