Is Our Democracy Doomed?

We’ve all read the stories about the firings of U.S. Justice Department attorneys. The Attorney General lost his job and most of his credibility in the process. Why would he take such a risk? What was really at stake here? What would motivate BushCo to fire so many Justice Department attorneys and replace them with party faithful lawyers? What did they have to gain?

The answer, I believe, lies in the fact that 2008 is an election year. We all like to think of the U.S. as the world’s leader in the free election process. We believe that the people in countries like El Salvador, Haiti, and Russia are oppressed because the elections they participate in are likely to be rigged one way or another. There is really only one party fielding a candidate, or the ballot box is stuffed, or people are intimidated at the polls, or something happens somewhere along the way that predetermines the outcome of the election every time.

We tend to believe that we are above that. We think that we have a system that protects us from predetermined elections, but just look at the last two presidential elections. Eight years ago the entire process was warped and twisted to the point that the popular vote didn’t matter. The electoral college didn’t even matter. It all came down to a Supreme Court decision that was very quickly made and not at all hotly contested. Four years ago there were questions as to the legality of the voting process in Missouri, Ohio and, once again, Florida, not to mention the furor over how easily new electronic voting systems developed and operated by strong supporters of the Republican party could be manipulated.

Questionable practices weren’t limited to the Republican party, either. The Democrats were accused of some pretty shady stuff, themselves. After all, there is a great deal at stake in any election, and an American presidential election contests the most powerful position in the world.

So what does the firing of DOJ attorneys have to do with this? The answer is glaringly simple. Those attorneys are the people who will investigate and deal with contested election issues. They monitor the voting process in this country. They determine how and by whom election issues will be settled. So if they are professed supporters of a given political party, that party can be assured that the settlement will be in their favor. As Naomi Wolf pointed out in a recent article, Goebbels did this same thing in Germany in 1933.

The real upshot of the brouhaha over these attorneys, though, must be examined within the bigger picture. This process is just one aspect of a series of moves taken by the executive branch and through the Congress that perhaps are setting the stage for the complete loss of the freedoms guaranteed by our constitution.

Add it up:

• The firing of U.S. attorneys to make elections easily manipulable
• The right of the executive branch to identify enemies of the state and imprison them without the right of representation or appeal – The Patriot Act
• The suspension of habeas corpus and the empowerment of the executive branch to declare U.S. citizens as “enemy combatants” – The Military Commissions Act
• Easing the way for the executive branch to declare martial law – The Defense Authorization Act of 2007
• The creation of prison camps by none other than Halliburton that is occurring in this country right now with no public disclosure
• Hundreds of presidential signing statements exempting the executive branch from laws passed by the Congress
• The rise of a movement for a “Christian” nation with only the extreme right wing allowed to define Christian
• The demise of small news media and their replacement by a small number of large media controlled by ideologues enabled by federal legislation and reduced regulation now being taken further by Kevin Martin, chairman of the FCC.

Once again, not all of this can be laid solely at the feet of the Republican party, though most of it is most definitely the handiwork of BushCo and most notably quiet little dick Cheney. Many Democrats have voted along the way in support of this process. The voting record of every office holder in the Congress should be examined and none who consistently voted to put this block of legislation and activities into place or failed to speak out against it should ever be re-elected.

In the best case scenario, this picture represents an abdication of responsibility by our Congress. In the worst case scenario, it is the outline of an under-the-table scheme to hijack the country and take away the freedom of every American who would dare to stand up for his/her rights by strongly protesting governmental actions. In that case, it is no less than a move toward fascism, and should not be tolerated for one minute by any thinking American citizens. Find middle ground here if you can, but even from that position, the nation cannot long survive if the trend is allowed to continue, so unbroken silence is not an acceptable approach to the problem. The solution lies in the will of the people.

For the last eight years I have held that the issues BushCo presents to our nation are not partisan. At this point, it should be clear to everyone that support of either party without regard to the ultimate effect of that party’s actions is a pledge of allegiance to a party and not to America. America needs informed action from its citizenry and allegiance only to the preservation of the constitution or it will cease to be the America we all love.


Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi

Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR

The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle