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Republican Rulers Are Out Of Control

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Message Stephen Crockett
 
“Out of control, elitist power mongers” would be the best phrase to describe the political mindset of the Bush Republican machine. The current Bush Administration and their Senate allies are completely unwilling to bend to majority rule on the Iraq War or the other major issues of today. In the Republican elitist world, the people are to be ruled over instead of represented by Republican officeholders and judges.
Every American should read the 2004 book, Worse Than Watergate, by John Dean. While the book is a little dated by events occurring since 2004, it gives great insight into the legal, political and institutional mechanics of enforcing Republican elitist minority rule put in place very early in the first Bush term.
Courts were packed with biased judges who routinely place partisan interests and Republican ideology above the law. Legal precedents were established to provide unprecedented secret government and to undermine procedures to regulate executive authority. Regulatory bodies were filled with Republican partisan ideologues and political hacks.
One cannot really understand the importance of the US Attorneygate Firing scandals without understanding the issues raised in Worse Than Watergate. John Dean understands from personal experience the Constitutional issues, legal moves and institutions of government involved. Dean saw the big picture even before it was fully revealed to the wider public by ensuing revelations.
Bush and Cheney expanded claims of executive power to nearly dictatorial levels. They claim that Congress has no right to effectively examine almost any aspect of White House behavior or policies. In reality, the Bush Republicans basically deny the right of Congress to engage in Congressional oversight activities.
The ability of Bush to retain the support of the partisan core of the Republican Party concerning the Iraq War issue reveals that information control is essential to the efforts by the Bush Republicans to retain political power. Every dictatorial machine needs a rabid minority of hardcore supporters to stay in power.
On Iraq, Republican Senators have been put in a box by Bush. Republican Senators are likely to have problems in the Republican primaries if they vote to end Bush’s War. Republicans are fed Bush Republican Spin on the issue by Fox News and the Right Wing Talk Radio Machine constantly. The Republican partisans live in another reality devoid of information that would destroy their belief system. Open government, education, unbiased information and honest answers are the enemies of Bush Republicanism. 
With over 70 percent of Americans opposed to Bush’s war policies, Republican Senators are unlikely to win the 2008 general elections as supporters of Bush’s Iraq War. The vast majority of Americans do not live in the alternative reality of Bush Republicanism. Those citizens already realize that Bush’s way can never win the Iraq War. Bush Republicanism ran the effort for far too long and the damage is done. Things like torturing prisoners or killing Iraqi civilians cannot be undone. Bush put our goals out of reach.
We lost the Iraqi populace by staying far too long and doing the wrong things. Bush Republican incompetence, greed and ideology lost the peace in Iraq that our military had gained. Some of same problems seem too apparent in Afghanistan.
Bush and Cheney lost the Iraq War. In order to save Bush Republicanism from total ideological extinction, they are trying to run out the clock so the inevitable withdrawal can be blamed on the next, likely Democratic Presidency! Bush and Cheney will abuse their offices by imposing their minority view on the vast majority of dissenting fellow citizens concerning Iraq because it serves their goal to retain power in the future.
The Bush Republicans will block national health insurance or efforts to replace free trade with fair trade although overwhelming majorities of Americans support both. Fairer tax burden distribution and stronger environmental protections will be fought by the Republicans. Easier voting and ending “no-bid” government contracts will be opposed by the Republican elitists. What they cannot win in the legislature will often be blocked by their partisans in the courts. Their power will always come before democracy or common decency.
Hiding failure and corruption is the Bush Republican way. Few Americans believe that Libby should have been given special treatment by Bush. Libby intentionally obstructed a criminal investigation that seemed to reach the highest levels of the Bush White House. Had Libby not lied, investigators might have indicted Karl Rove or Vice President Cheney. Citizens might have discovered that Bush ordered the outing of a covert CIA agent for political reasons. If so, Bush and Cheney might have been impeached.
The only thing that might have made Scooter Libby talk was jail. By taking time in jail off the table, George W Bush effectively covered up the truth about this terrible crime committed by White House operatives. Libby is one of the Republican elitist rulers. Under Bush Republicanism, he is effectively above the law like his bosses.
It is time to end elitist, minority rule and restore representative democracy. We have a government to repair. We have the American Dream to save.

 
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Stephen Crockett is co-host of Democratic Talk Radio and author of the Democratic Voices opinion column.
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