The result is that the president's wartime powers, with its armies, battles, victories, and congressional declarations, now extend to the rhetorical "War on Terror": a war with no fronts, no boundaries, no opposing army, and -- most ominously -- no knowable "victory." Investigations, arrests and trials are not tools of war. But according to the Yoo memo, the president can define war however he chooses, and remain "at war" for as long as he chooses.
This is indefinite dictatorial power. And I don't use that term lightly; the very definition of a dictatorship is a system that puts a ruler above the law. In the weeks after 9/11, while America and the world were grieving, Bush built a legal rationale for a dictatorship. Then he immediately started using it to avoid the law.
This is, fundamentally, why this issue crossed political lines in Congress. If the president can ignore laws regulating surveillance and wiretapping, why is Congress bothering to debate reauthorizing certain provisions of the Patriot Act? Any debate over laws is predicated on the belief that the executive branch will follow the law.
The very definition of a dictatorship is a system that puts a ruler above the law
-
morning
First thing this morning I went to the bathroom and contemplated my veins. The main one in the right elbow collapsed during the second colonoscopy…
-
Don't Go to the Grocery Store for Toilet Paper
See if you can Order it from a Restaurant or Ask your Boss to Supply It URGENT: Please contact your favorite large/chain restaurants that are…
-
Recipe Exchange
My friend Gini emailed me an old-fashioned recipe exchange tree letter, where you send one recipe back to the person who sent THEM the letter, then…
- Post a new comment
- 0 comments
- Post a new comment
- 0 comments