Exposing the lack of compassion by conservatives and
debunking right wing hypocrisy at every opportunity.
One of the (seemingly) more persuasive arguments against supporters of the unprecedented power seized by the current administration, largely do to the efforts of Dick Cheney, is that the Republican's worst nightmare should be (one would think) despotic power in the hands of Hillary Clinton.
This argument has some traction, but not nearly enough to inspire the pushback we would hope. By and large, I believe that most people, especially democrats, have internalized the attitude that once a Democrat is in charge, much of the Constitutional liberties the Bush Administration have shredded would be reinstated. And to a large part, that will be the case. The disgraceful charade at Gitmo will be abolished, the Military Commissions Act, FISA and much of the Patriot Act will surely be revisited under a Democratic Administration -- God I hope so.
However, as secretively as Dich Cheney has gone about his busines, and as dedicated his followers seem to be, just because Hillary and Bill move back into their favorite public housing is no guarantee that Cheney's influence won't live on. After all, he and Rumsfeld have been working on their Continuity of Government plans since the first Bush presidency.
UPDATE: In Alan Brock's Secrecy and the War Without End, he makes the case that very little of the secret shinanigans they're up to will ever disappear, whoever takes command.
This means that it is very possible that the freedoms we are losing during the current conflict – to fly without hassles, to be free from electronic surveillance, to be free from cameras stationed all over major cities, and on and on – may never be restored. The nature of the GWOT is that it has no foreseeable end. So the losses of freedom we are suffering may not only serve as a precedent for further reductions in freedom, they could be permanent features of the American landscape.
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2 Comments:
Count me among the skeptics when it comes to believing in a "return to normalcy" if/when a Democrat succeeds Bush. (Correction: If anyone succeeds Bush.)
The temptations, and the power, are too great.
Sure Hillary might ease back -- but future presidents will hark back to how easy it was to grab power in the first place.
In other words, whatever she "gives back" will be nothing compared to what could be grabbed after she's gone.
THIS is why impeaching Cheney/Bush is so important. If there is no accountability, you can be SURE it will happen again, far worse, sooner rather than later.
There's always the idea of sending the former prez and vp as a goodwill ambassador to a meeting set up in their honor at The Hague.
Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
After we fool those two clowns into answering before the International Court of Justice, I'd rather see us chase down Rumsfeld like the dog he is, then haul him away in chains.
Gonzo: directly to Gitmo where we'll never hear from him again.
THEN, and only then can we ever say again that we believe in justice, and not Just Us.
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