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The Misunderestimated Mr. Cheney:
The Vice President's Record of Willfully Violating the Law, And Wrongly Claiming Authority to Do So
Vice President Dick Cheney has regularly claimed that he is above the law, but until recently he has not offered any explanation of why.
In fact, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a law that Cheney believes does apply to him, whether that law be major and minor. For example, he has claimed that most of the laws passed in the aftermath of Watergate were unconstitutional, and thus implicitly inapplicable. His office oversees signing statements claiming countless new laws will not be honored except insofar as the President's extremely narrow interpretation allows. He does not believe the War Powers Act should be honored by the President. Nor, in his view, should the President be bothered with laws like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). In fact, it appears Cheney has actively encouraged defiance of such laws by the Bush Administration.
For Cheney, the Geneva Conventions - considered among the nation's most important treaties -- are but quaint relics that can be ignored. Thus, he publicly embraced their violation when, on an Idaho talk radio program, he said he was not troubled in the slightest by our forces using "waterboarding" -- the simulated drowning of detainees to force them to talk. There are serious questions as to whether Cheney himself has also conspired to violate the War Crimes Act, which can be a capital crime.
A man who can so easily disregard the War Powers Act, FISA, the Geneva Conventions, and the War Crimes Act is merely flicking fleas when it comes to complying with laws like the Presidential Records Act, which requires him to keep records. Yet as CNN and other news organizations have reported, Cheney ordered the destruction of the visitor logs to his residence. These, of course, are presidential records the law requires him to preserve and protect. (Indeed, neighbors of the Vice President were surprised when, in the past, a truck for a document shredding service would regularly visit the Vice President's residence at the Naval Observatory.)
Most recently, the Vice President has refused to comply with Executive Order 12958, as amended by his boss, George W. Bush. These orders were issued to implement the law adopted by Congress in 1995 to clarify the classification and protection of national security information.
Most interesting in Cheney's defiance is his absolutely absurd explanation of why the law is not applicable to him or his staff.
Cheney's Explanation(s) For Defying the National Security Classification Orders
Henry Waxman, who may be the nation's most diligent and vigilant member of Congress, recently reported that Vice President Cheney claims he is exempt from the presidential orders requiring government-wide procedures to safeguard classified national security information because he is not an "entity within the executive branch." According to information provided to Chairman Waxman's Oversight committee, Cheney further claimed he was not an "agency" as set forth in the Executive Orders.
When Cheney was widely ridiculed by humorists, cartoonists, pundits, commentators and several members of Congress for his claim of not being an "entity within the executive branch," the Vice President's chief of staff and counsel David Addington responded by asserting that the Vice President is not subject to the order because he is not an "agency" as defined by the order. (Addington thus effectively dropped the claim that the Vice President is not an "entity.")
However, Addington does not cite any authority or language for his new claim that the Vice President is not an "agency." In fact, there is none. To the contrary, the order controlling national security classification states exactly the opposite of what Addington claims.
Executive Order 12958 states that the term "Agency" means any "Executive agency," as defined in the statutory language found at 5 U.S.C. 105, and it includes "any other entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information." An entity is any "body" or "unit" or "thing" within the executive branch, and to claim the Vice President's office is none of these is an insult to common sense. So is Addington's claim that the Office of Vice President is not an agency under the law.
Section 105 of Title 5 of the United States Code states that an "'Executive agency' means an ... independent establishment" within the executive branch. Independent establishments are defined by Section 104 as "an establishment in the executive branch ... which is not an Executive department [which are listed in Section 101, and include the Departments of State, Treasury, Justice, etc.], military department, Government corporation, or part thereof, or part of an independent establishment."
The Justice Department issued an opinion in 1994 that the Vice President was not an "agency" under the Freedom of Information Act. That opinion was largely based on the Supreme Court ruling, in Kissinger v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, that "agency" does not cover "the President's immediate personal staff or units in the Executive Office whose sole function is to advise and assist the President."
However, the agency definition in E.O. 12985 is very different from that in the Freedom of Information Act. If, as Addington claims, E.O. 12985 was intended to exempt the Vice President's office, why did it not so state? Or, why did Bush not exempt the Vice President when he amended that order in July 2005?
Cheney's claim his office is neither an entity nor agency defies logic, but it is not surprising since he continues also to claim, with absolutely no evidence to support his claim, that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11 and that terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi set up an al Qaeda operation in Iraq.
Needless to say, Cheney's claim - or Addington's claim, since Cheney appears to be backing away from his chief of staff and counsel on this issue - raises the question of what the vice president is. Legally, the vice president has only the most limited of powers and authority, unless the president empowers him.
The Limited Role the Constitution and a Federal Statute Envision for the Vice President
The Vice President's very limited but vital roles are set forth in the Constitution. He is the next in succession to become President, should there be a vacancy or should the president suffer from mental or physical inability to serve. And he is the president of the Senate, which means he can preside over the Senate but under the Senate Rules, he cannot take part in debate, and under the Constitution, he can only vote to break a tie.
In the event of a vacancy in the office of the president, under Article II and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, the Vice President becomes the Acting President. Also under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, the Vice President, when acting with a majority of the Cabinet, can also declare the president is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office." If he so declares, then after so informing Congress, the Vice President becomes Acting President until the President notifies Congress that he is fine; if there is a dispute, the Congress resolves it.
The only other Constitutional duty of the Vice President is that set forth in Article I, Section 3, clause 4, which makes the Vice President the "President of the Senate, but [he/she] shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided." Not since the nation's second Vice President, Thomas Jefferson, decided it was a waste of time to preside over the Senate has any Vice President done so -- other than to break ties or for ceremonial events, such as the State of the Union or the tallying of electoral college votes.
Since 1947, the Vice President has been given a number of statutory duties, when President Truman recommended, and the Congress agreed, that the Vice President should be a member of the National Security Council. This, however, is the most significant of his statutory assignments.
Thus, beyond the limited constitutional responsibilities, and the few statutory tasks, the Vice President's role comes down to whatever the President assigns him. Vice Presidents can have no role greater than the assignments given by the president -- or in the case of Dick Cheney, whatever he has been able to convince the President he can appropriately handle for him.
The Source of Cheney's Power: Influence, Not a Formal Grant of Authority
Washington insiders have long understood that Cheney's power stems from his knowledge of the way the White House and the Office of the President operate. This is knowledge he acquired as President Ford's Chief of Staff. With Bush's consent, much of the paper flow of the White House which heads up the chain of command toward the President goes through Cheney's office. In addition, Cheney's staff reaches down into the executive bureaucracy to shape the debate before it reaches the White House.
Those with whom I have spoken have serious doubt that Bush and the White House staff really knows what Cheney is doing, why he is doing it, or how he is doing it. From the outset of this administration, Cheney has been instrumental in placing people loyal to him throughout the Executive Branch. This is not to say that Bush in not "the decider," for he is, but by shaping the debate and controlling the paper flow, Cheney decides what the decider will decide.
It has long been apparent that Cheney's genius is that he lets George W. Bush get out of bed every morning actually believing he is the President. In fact, his presidency is run by the President of the Senate, for Cheney is its true center of gravity. That fact has become more apparent with every passing year of this presidency, and anyone who thinks otherwise has truly "misunderestimated" our nominal president and his vice president.
John W. Dean, a FindLaw columnist, is a former counsel to the president.
© 2007 FindLaw
87 Comments so far
Show AllVery informative and insightful. Dean says succinctly what we all know is sadly true - Darth Cheney is Dubya handler - just like a puppeteer moves his puppet.
I can't think of a worse person than old Dick Cheney. One would think that somehow hell doesn't burn quite as hot without him in it.
Bear in mind, that if you cross Cheney, you might get shot in the face. Anybody who thinks that the shot in the face incident involving Cheney was accidental is totally nieve.
There is this paradox. All this shit is going. And yet Americans still feel they live in the greatest country on Earth. Well. Way I see it. Barry. Either the stuff that's going on is just the-world's best-democracy in action (and it's not "shit", it's mere realpolitik and "in everybody's interest", Cheney and all) or you are NOT the "greatest country on Earth" anymore, and you are a kakistocracy, and need to face up to the fact. You Americans are the most dangerous race on Earth. You kill SO MANY people. More than the Sudanese. More than the Chinese. More than the Cubans. More than the Chechens. You are scary. Your impunity is unbelievable. Left and right. You're not much different. You talk amongst yourselves. Flounce and pout. Witter on about Hillary. Obama. The very-bad-Bush. But what do you do? You cower. Grumble. Express your utter indignation. But what are you ACTUALLY DOING to make your culture less lethal to others? People are are dying, 100s, every day. What did you DO today to put a stop to it? Post something here to commondreams.org? Is that all?
Personally, I submitted over 10 letters this week to my Congressmen/women.
From here it looks like you are all hat and no cattle yourself there, Soeharto. The first step in solving ANY problem is first admitting that there is a problem and beginning a dialog about it. American society is waking up thanks to daily improving communication - just like this on the www.
That is what is going on here. That is all.
Nice work, Mr. Dean. Now tell it to Congress.
Also under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, the Vice President, when acting with a majority of the Cabinet, can also declare the president is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office."
If I were GW, I would be very worried.
kakistocracy
1829, "government by the worst element of a society," coined on analogy of aristocracy from Gk. kakistos "worst," superl. of kakos "bad" (which is perhaps related to the general IE word for "defecate") + -kratia "rule of," from kratos "strength, power, rule" (see -cracy).
soeharto
interesting comments you have. it sounds like you have some suggestions. i am willing to listen.
DiegoACNP wrote ...
"Personally, I submitted over 10 letters this week to my Congressmen/women."
"From here it looks like you are all hat and no cattle yourself there, Soeharto. The first step in solving ANY problem is first admitting that there is a problem and beginning a dialog about it. American society is waking up thanks to daily improving communication."
Yeah we'll all wait for you and your well-meaning kind, DiegoACNP. We've had a century in which your culture has killed literally millions of people in the pursuit of its economic model and to feed your alledged prosperity. It seems to me that your Congressmen are the heart and soul of the kakistocracy you are so proud of. Hey. You write your letters by all means. "American society is waking up". Oooh, sounds quite lovely. We tremble with anticipation. Your indignation at my post makes me laugh. I am an NGO worker and activist in Indonesia working with marginalized communities. I live an economy your precious Washington consensus has messed up. Please. Don't think you can give non-Americans the flick with your talk of your letters to Congressmen.
"All hat and no cattle". Oooh, you Americans are so playful with your language. So endearing.
Soeharto - I think you mistake Americans for the American Government. The American government, the elites and their corporate pals, have done the damage this past century, not me. Not my family, not anyone I've ever known, and probably not anyone on the CommonDreams discussion board and everyone they know, past, present, and future.
I think you'd find if most folks could spare the time from trying to make ends meet, to learn about what their government has done, they'd be as mad as you are. But they'd be mad at the government, not their neighbors.
Considering the source (John Dean)and his understanding and experience with dysfunctional executives,(Richard Nixon and all his Watergate goons) this is one scary and (regrettably) true analysis.
Goodness me, I think I've already figured out that the American Government is dangerous, KaneJeeves.
The more scary conclusion I've reached in the last 10 years or so is that the American people are dangerous too. You just can't reign your own government in. You want my sympathy? And my understanding about the terrible yoke you're struggling under? Please.
You've had 231 years and you've turned into world's most lethal body politic (others preceded you, of course) and the most dangerous people on Earth.
You are so unbelievably passive. You have money and education (unlike the people I work with here in Indonesia who struggle for reform and social justice with nothing at their disposal) and yet you come across as powerless. Oh, and now you tell me your are somehow the victims too. Ah diddums.
The buck stops with Americans not the American Government. That is the true nature of democracy. The same democracy that you folks harp on about ad nauseam. Talk about 'All Hat And No Cattle'! In most other countries in the world your 2000 election result would not have stood. 'People power' would have rectified it. But, oh well, at least you had your 'continuity' and 'consensus'. Come on! Get back to us non-American ordinary folk when you've done something concrete about reigning in your Earth-threatning oligarchy and the monstrous elected representatives attendant thereto.
"...not me. Not my family, not anyone I've ever known, and probably not anyone on the CommonDreams discussion board and everyone they know, past, present, and future."
Oh well that's alright then. You sound numerous. We can expect change, soon.
interesting penname "Soeharto" for a person so worried about all the people killed by the U.S. In the 1900s people did get off their ass and do things in the U.S.-creation of Unions, Women's suffrage are examples. We on this thread are aware of the atrocities of our Goverment. In the 1960s many of us were beaten or shot by our own police and troops protesting and rebelling against another unjust war. Let me know in 10 years what your sacrifices have accomplished with your Government. I believe we were instrumental in stopping the Vietnam war-tell me what your actions have accomplished when you get back to me
Cheney doesn't seem to feel as though any laws pertain to him.
Such arrogance can come only from disdain for other people.
That's what makes him dangerous.
Folks in the mental health field have a name for him: psychopath.
Ron, you are not the first to notice post disappearing on this thread. Is Common Dreams getting Cheneyesk? Is the digital papershreder backing up to the door here as well as Cheney's residence?
"Drex" wrote...
"interesting penname "Soeharto" for a person so worried about all the people killed by the U.S. In the 1900s people did get off their ass and do things in the U.S.-creation of Unions, Women's suffrage are examples. We on this thread are aware of the atrocities of our Goverment. In the 1960s many of us were beaten or shot by our own police and troops protesting and rebelling against another unjust war."
Well, I am British, Drex - as it happens. And while American activists like yourself go on about what you did in the 1960s, we English go on and on and on about how we won the soccer World Cup in 1966... regardless of the fact that World Cups came and went in 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006.
Apologies to those offended by my tone. But I am amazed at how the commentariat here at commondreams.org seems to be in constant 'oooh dick cheney he SO bad, I so so cross' mode.
The sum of your well-meaning parts comes across like a kind of armchair-left-wing-FoxTV panel of pundits sometimes. Know what I'm getting at?
Well, do you? (even if you don't like the way I'm asking you)
Soeharto:
I want you to know that many of us Americans feel the way that you do, and share your disgust for the apathetic attitude of our morally slothful, intellectually bankrupt, commercially gluttinous brethren. Your words sting, yet I can't disagree with you.
Trouble is, most people don't know anything about anything that goes on in D.C. Fault the mass media for that to a large degree, but still, it should be noted that citizens have the capacity to inform themselves should they make an effort. Mis- and dis-information campaigns promulgated via the mass media are highly effective, nevertheless. Add on top of that the fact that Americans simply aren't as educated as you seem to think they are. Mix in the knowledge that the ever-expanding powers of a police state make protesting (at least in the traditional sense) completely ineffective. If we go to a protest, we get locked in a cage, er, excuse me -- a 'free speech zone' -- if not arrested and beaten for exercising our civil liberties. And so on and on. So what's to do?
I agree completely that if the American people had the will, they could literally put a stop to this ridiculous war, if not topple the Bush Administration entirely. But even those who want those things do not know how to go about it. As evidence, I point to a poster above who's written multiple letters to his or her congressional representation. Letter writing of this sort rarely makes any difference at all (though there are some recent notable exceptions), yet people do it because they're itching to DO Something, just as you are prodding us to do.
So what do we do?
If you were a US citizen, living here in the 'homeland', what would you do? What action do you advocate? I've been searching for answers to that question for years, and it seems clear to me that the only action that could really make a difference is a massive direct action involving upwards of a million Americans in one place at the same time, perhaps shutting down the capital until our troops are brought home. But I'm a fringe minority in that desire, and I have no idea how to persuade others that such an action is necessary.
So what's the solution, Soeharto? Like it or not, there are plenty of Americans who are on your team. What would you have us do? Bitching and moaning and letter-writing and hand-wringing isn't doing it for me, either. If there were something verifiably constructive I could do to help get Bush and Cheney imprisoned, I would do it in a heartbeat.
What would you have me do?
Cheney already lives in hell. No man who thinks and acts as he does can think very well of himself, and it says enough that he's had four heart attacks and lives off a pacemaker and who only knows what else.
This thing who calls himself Dick Cheney is not human.
US people must be extremely wary of allowing debilitated machinery to take control of the reins.
OK, I'm going to tone it down a bit. I don't want to get barred. I want to contribute. And there are poeple here who know that things are wrong and that they need to be put right. I sense that there are good people here. (apart frome that guy who keeps going on about how 'Arabs have shown themselves unworthy of self-detemination.' And 'Israel is well within it's rights to blah blah blah.' I don't like him.)
Soeharto -- tone it down, tone it up -- whatever. Just answer the question: what would YOU do?
(Don't think for a second, btw, that I don't appreciate the irony of being lectured by a Brit. ;) )
I cannot understand why American democracy will not flourish the instruments available to it that would end Cheney's coup. There is no 'people power' because the people are eating cake while an underclass fights for them. No draft means no need to demonstrate. It is all about the dollar, not human beings or societies. Impeachment is off the table while the Dems cynically peruse poll numbers. Where the hell are 'principles'?
There is also a great weakness in the American model of democracy. The US should have had a parliamentary system where the head of government is hectored, badgered, pilloried, and cross-examined day in day out by a political opposition and a government can fall if it does not command enough seats. Presidents are like kings; certainly the Bush cabal acts like it has regal powers. The Westminster model is superior. It would be less prone to descending into a 'kakistocracy'.
Yes, well, what to do?
The political establishment is so thoroughly integrated with corporate power that there is really little to be done with the vote. Labor had power once, but with the US manufacturing base now located in China, that is no longer true. Protests are just ignored or downplayed in the media, which is also largely an instrument of corporate control.
You can refuse to supply your body for foreign wars, but the taxes they need for that purpose they take by force.
I suppose we have to recognize that as individuals, the answer to the question is really, not much.
OK I would like non US citizens to tell us what to do also because our predicament is so complex and gettin more so every day..that, Besides adopting the British system and crowning me King, I can see no way outta Here!
but we need the revolution too keep on keepin on Folks,,,
But when the demonstrations turn ugly...don't ask me do provoke violence for victory of the revolution...The military that is trained to stop you would love nothin better than to simplify there job and take you out.
In the meantime think about make sure you register to vote so that you can join the protest at the polls and vote for every issue and vote (Write in yourself) for yourself for president and your first pick as V.P. if you can and see the change...it will be a virtual no-confidence vote of the masses off the whole political spectrum...the under-vote will get them and there is nothin they can do!
Love, Jim
Exactly -- "as individuals", not much. That's exactly right.
So let's try a little thought experiment. Assume that you can accumulate mass support for an action. What would you do that could achieve concrete, short-term results, and how many people would it take?
Personally, I'd like to see millions of Americans flood D.C. and shut it down until Bush and Cheney resign. Even people who support that notion would say to themselves, "I'd like to go, but where will I stay? With that many people, wouldn't it be hard to find a toilet? How long would that take, because I've only got 2 weeks of vacation, and I've already used 1 of them."
The desire is there, but not the will. Even those of us with a strong desire for change are unwilling to make uncomfortable sacrifices. Before any serious change can come, I fear that many many Americans will have to suffer, as they did during the Depression before the New Deal galvanized the nation.
I hope for the sake of everything that is good that I'm terribly, terribly wrong.
See David Addington, Gonzalez, and others do, without any thought as to why they do, this blind bidding of those who tell them to break laws, tear up the U.S. Constitution and make outrageous claims to the contrary. Their fear is palpable.
Coyotita -- you think those guys are afraid? Of what? The one guy in Congress with the balls to call for Cheney's impeachment is almost universally regarded as a freakish little leprechaun. What could Cheney's sycophants possibly be afraid of? There's no accountability. Look at the White House's reaction to the subpoenas issued by the Judiciary Committee: "fuck you."
I share Soeharto's frustration. We talk, talk, talk. In Mexico, was it two million people who took to the streets to protest the stolen election? And here in the U.S., we have two stolen elections in a row and.... where's the outrage? It all boils down to a collection of internet postings, a few faxes and phone calls to the powerful. Not with a bang, but a whimper.
Apple computers say "Think Different". Well, it's time to ACT different. Live different. Don't "question authority"-- take control before it's too late. Live your life AS IF a new, honest and sustainable global society is already here and you're part of it.
Don't stop writing and posting to blogs-- this media is truly giving the mainstream media a run for its money. It keeps us informed in lieu of professional investigative reporters and analysts. But it's not enough.
civil war soeharto--this will end in american civil war, and i expect you are aware that no nation in the world can do civil war as well as america..
ken
Soeharto, I have to tell you. I'm tired.
For the last 5 years I've been talking, writing my Congressmen who mostly vote with Bush in Nazi lock-step (unfortunately, I live in the Deep South), confronting my Congressmen in town hall meetings, marching in peace protests, volunteering for political campaigns, posting on blogs like Common Dreams, and trying to get the real information on what is happening with our country out to those who will listen. I've been doing every LEGAL thing a citizen can do to dissent in the face of a regime bent on authoritarian takeover of the government. Many others, like those who post here, are trying to get the word out as well.
The truth is, many aren't listening. I have one aquaintance who gets her information entirely from the Drudge Report (no truth there) and others who watch Fox News all the time.
You might correctly consider and pass along to all you know this information: There is a study showing that in the runup to the Iraq invasion, only 23% of the people who listened to Public TV or National Public Radio thought Saddam HUssein had anything to do with Al Qaeda, WMD's, or 9/11. But an astonishing 80% of those who viewed Fox News believed those misleading lies. Just as Bush wanted. (Check out the story for yourself on this web site.)
My own best friend screamed at me in December 2002 before the invasion, calling me unpatriotic because I questioned whether we were getting all the information. We haven't really been friends since.
The truth is, we are a country divided. The greatest of all the lies Bush told before his "election" was that he was "a uniter, not a divider." This country is more polarized now than at any time since our own Civil War. And that's not my opinion. It's been documented in study after study.
I'm trying. Lots of us are trying. But we are tired.
Even so, slowly but surely, the truth is finding its way into the mainstream. And as it does, people are converting. "We the People" are now 2 to 1 against this ghastly war in Iraq. That's a remarkable turnaround in 2 or 3 years.
Consider this. There are what, 20 or so million people in Great Britain? But America is peopled by over 300 million citizens. Moving public opinion is like turning a great leviathan. It takes time, but when it does happen, and the powerful juggernaut of justice finally bears down on criminals like Cheney, the results can be awesome to behold.
There is something you can do to help. Rupert Murdoch, who is currently about to devour the Wall Street Journal and turn it into Fox News in print, also owns The Times of London. As a British citizen, why don't you take it upon yourself to go after him? I know you are working as an NGO in a far away place. But your position would give you some weight. Why don't you use it? The more Murdoch's Eye of Sauron can be turned from Fox News and the WSJ, the better chance we Americans will have of turning around this Ship of State.
We Americans ARE working for change. But don't wait for us weary defenders of freedom to do everything overnight.
You can help. We need you. The whole world will be needed to stop George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and their cabal.
20 or so million people in Great Britain? There's one of the problems.
Okay, I admit Tony Blair is not as bad (or as stupid) as Geroge W. Bush, but he did RECKLESSLY follow Bush into his illegal War of Choice on Iraq. Blair, like the incompetent Bush, did nothing to ensure proper planning for a postwar regime. Blair pissed away whatever influence the UK may have had around the world by being Bush's willing laptoad. (That's a neologism for lapdog toady.)
Blair, like Bush, squandered his nation's reputation and credibility in foreign policy.
The reason I mention this is that the Brits could have kicked their SOB out of office a helluva lot easier than U.S. citizens can kick our SOB out of office, because of the difference in governing systems. Blair should have been sacked long before he chose to leave his premiership. What did you do Soeharto to hasten his departure?
With that said, one reason we're in the fix we're in is because Americans are willfully ignorant -- too many Americans choose to stay uninformed because to be informed would be "too upsetting."
Soeharto: I am with you - I am a US citizen working in the NGO world too - in West Africa, Indonesia, and central Asia. I do not openly admit to my US citizenship (hoping to change it to Canadian if they'll take me). I get your frustration.
But also try to understand the frustration of the people who post to this site. MILLIONS of people across the world (including tens of thousands in the US!) marched against the invasion of Iraq. The WORLD was ignored.
And now, the world won't march with the US citizens again - maybe never again. And they shouldn't. Those of us who wore out our tennis shoes going to marches across the country are tired and frustrated.
Now that the posters to this site are "on their own" so to speak, just what would you have us do?
Yep I've marched for years and it has accomplished sadly nothing things keep getting worse from BOTH political parties and the MSM won't cover non mainstream activity until it's far too late. I'll keep fighting but it certainly is tiring and discouraging.
How well I remember those who gave up too quickly, because they didn't believe that the U.S. Constitution actually worked, and that Nixon (and his Vice-President, what's his name, with a similar scowl and bark like Cheney's) would ever be held accountable.
It's a comin' 'roun, folks.
And so it goes.
First, we have been conditioned to see ourselves as victims. Second, we have made this belief an institution of our social structure and revel in it, because as capitalists we KNOW that money always makes it all better... right?
I have no sympathy for our nation. I have spent my civil disobedience wad but still have it in me to defy dictatorship. I just don't wish to end up in one of those new "camps for the 'disappeared'" that Halliburton is now constructing on the continent as we converse.
I have made numerous efforts to educate and show other citizens that apathy and selfishness borne within the "allmightydollar" doctrine has now become the ugliest thing on the planet. Shame on us for wallowing in greed while starving the rest of the peoples of the world. This is our reward. We have sown these seeds, now we have to reap the horrid harvest... And eat some crow.
"Americans are willfully ignorant — too many Americans choose to stay uninformed because to be informed would be "too upsetting.""
Yeah, it's very sobering to learn the true history and nature of one's country, to understand that it's a filthy disgusting Empire aimed at World Domination, or "Full Spectrum Dominance" as it's now termed in official US government documents. No different from Hitler's goals, or the British Empire's. Behind it all is the "Money Power," what some call Wall Street. They are the shareholders and Board of Directors' members of the Miltary-Industrial Complex, a term which has had other historical names. The worst is when one realizes one's complicity in the Empire's crimes by providing it monies, which is almost impossible to stop as small federal taxes are everywhere/pervasive, as with gasoline for example.
What many here lament is the failure of "negotiations" with government reps to stop pursuing policies that kill, which include almost all US Foreign Policies. When peaceful, tactful politics fails, then politics of confrontation must ensue if the goal is to be attained; Ghandi's method is one path, Ho Chi Minh's and George Washington's another. The escallation leading to July 4, 1776 is instructive of what the future might bring.
The US government is committing genocide in Iraq. The Nuremburg Protocols, which are fundamental US law, says it's the duty of citizens to overthrow any government committing such acts. It's very hard to expect any US citizen to act on this requirement when no government, excepting Venezuela and Iran, is willing to openly charge the USA with genocide. So as with the Jewish Holocaust, the Iraqis will suffer their Holocaust amid a thunderous INTERNATIONAL SILENCE. Note instead how the hand wringing is all about Dafur, with of course no mention of US complicity there.
So to Soeharto I ask, your home government is complicit in genocide with the USA, are you going to say so; are you willing to call the last 17 years worth of genocidal policy toward Iraq by the UK and USA the Iraqi Holocaust? What should be the punishment for these two very uncivilized countries and their contemptible public, unwilling to stop what is plain to see by those whose eyes are open? Who or What will enforce the Judgement? What tools do you suggest we who are awake use against the mesmerized masses upon whose backs the Empire's legitimacy rests? I greatly admire the German students who formed the White Rose, but what percentage of US population even knows of their existence? Infintesimal. The US presents itself as BORG--Resistence is Futile.
Wow! One of those times when the ensuing discussion is every bit as interesting as the original article.
I'm going to echo a lot of folks here and say that I am embarassed by my government and all too often _glimpse_ the wreckage we wreak across the world. I use the word glimpse because even with going to a lot of progressive sites, there often is a lack of continuity in following issues.
However, living as I do in a red state where my Senator came with George Bush to campaign and do fundraising and was well-received, I also feel like a live in a surreal vaccum. And you might be impatient with the venting that goes on here, but for a lot of us it is reassurance that others feel as we do.
And I think most of want to believe that we will be able to coalesce our fears into action but the system is very corrupt and very dominated by the corporate media. I don't think I ever expected to be so voiceless in America.
I tend to think that as more Americans condemn the Iraqi War and become disillusioned--clearly the Emperor IS naked--that there may be energy to change. I think that this next election will show whether America will sink further into corporate ruled governance or whether there is going to be a counter-movement against it.
To each of you that has devoted some of your best years to trying to improve things, only to have your hopes dashed, and to those of you trying to remain civil while you rage inside, I say this:
The fight really *is* a generational one. No superman could win this fight in a few years, or even a few decades. It's human nature we're trying to change. People have always been this greedy, and mean, and selfish, and dumb.
But things are better now than at any time in history -- except for the fact of climate change, out of control population, and the ratio of human technical capacity .vs. human emotional development. That's what's different about our time.
So cut yourself some emotional slack. You can't stay in the game if you grind yourself down and expect too much too soon.
During this July 4th holiday weekend, grab a beer, listen to some good music, get together with some close friends and cuss the Republicans thoroughly. Do it with attitude, comforted by the knowledge that millions of people across the country are singing the same hymns.
After your head clears, you'll feel refreshed, invigorated, and energized all over again.
I hope to hear from all of you many times more in the years to come.
Best wishes from Outside the Beltway.
soeharto
If Blair had not backed Bush so strongly and aided him in constructing lies about Iraq the world and the UN might have been able to stop Bush.
Blair abetted Bush and England is at fault for continueing to keep Blair in office as much as America is at fault for keeping Bush in power.
And there is massive corruption in the leadership in many nations around the world.
Two words for someone in Indonesia:
East Timor !
Nightwatch, that is a brilliant idea.
"There is also a great weakness in the American model of democracy. The US should have had a parliamentary system where the head of government is hectored, badgered, pilloried, and cross-examined day in day out by a political opposition and a government can fall if it does not command enough seats. Presidents are like kings; certainly the Bush cabal acts like it has regal powers. The Westminster model is superior. It would be less prone to descending into a 'kakistocracy'."
Oh, yeah. That could work. People will be tuning into c-span regularly instead of watching "Dancing With the Stars" or the latest faux news about some beautiful, but dumb blond, like Paris Hilton on one of the fake news channels.
People could actually get educated. I am dead serious. If news, by this I mean real news, were entertaining like you describe, people would tune in; and they would learn.
OK, Soeharto, I agree that the US is guilty of many sins. But, before you rant some more about our failings, let me point out that in 1944 I was stationed at Horsham St. Faith, near Norwich, whence I flew 35 missions over enemy territory to save your (or your parent's) ass.
Yes, I was also helping to save OUR future freedom as well. But a tone that's little less snotty from you might be more effective in pointing out our many failings.
Yet another excellent essay reviewing the facts for the choir without offering any options We The People of the United States of America have to thwart Cheney's insanity. Besides impeachment, which would take too long and ultimately fail.
Is Cheney right? Does the office of the VP fall so far between the cracks that he cannot be held to account, or, apparently, even arrested?
Solutions to the American Problem
(To prevent loss of important posts save them and redistribute them)
1. Remove Bush and his Administration (all of it) from office. There are a range of options from the vote (if you trust the process) to revolution.
To improve that process: America could have its voting run by other democratic nations who are getting it right and do run elections free of the taint of corruption that characterizes America's "democratic" elections. Pfft. Enough said.
2. Take the Bush Administration, all of them, to the international court of justice and try them for crimes against humanity and war crimes (a la Nuremberg). This is extremely important because it will, in a single stoke, restore a large measure of the world's good will and faith in America which has, as a nation, not just wronged itself by permitting this Bush democrassy to exist, but which has bullied and brutalized the world economically, ecologically, culturally, and militarily. If America does not do this, then it will take decades (or more) to restore the goodwill of the world to America. Think Germany and its post-war reputation, for America's is no better right now than that of the German nation after two world wars, and in fact it is probably worse because America has pretended to be a democratic nation while it has covertly and overtly carried out imperialist actions all over the world. Take these criminals and turn them over to the world court for justice. No greater act to restore goodwill for America can be taken and the dividend will be worth it.
3. _After_ Bush and his administration have been tried and convicted in the international courts then the American people should take appropriate internal actions to prosecute Bush and his entire administration for crimes against the American people. For all the lies, all the scandals, all the flout of law, etc. Do not let them escape justice. If you do, then you further undermine the rule of law and justice for all. Founding principles that are extremely important. Separate each of these criminals from their ill-gotten gains and redistribute that wealth to those who were wronged, and publicly account for every cent.
4. Dismantle the current media conglomerates. They are not serving the people and democracy as they are meant to. The new models that do serve are right here. Support these.
5. Remove the power of corporations to influence politics. Cut off the funding of politicians by corporations. Period. Create the amendment to your tarnished Constitution that ensures that corporations have no right under the law to be involved in politics and that they may lose their charter and right to do business if they are found to flout that amendment.
6. Stop this "Leader of the Free World" claim. No nation elected America "leader" of the free world. That statement is a truly undemocratic and arrogant claim that states America's true position and self-delusion as a nation. Stop being a deluded nation. Get real. Return to your founding principles and learn their true meaning and value. The new leadership paradigm of the 21st Century is described as servant-leadership; one serves the world and therefore one earns the role of leader. America once did this.
If Americans sincerely want a way out of their predicament that's the way above. And you must all realize that if you commit to that path you must be willing to make the supreme sacrifice if the situation calls upon you to do so. The American people once inspired the world by shaking off the yoke of imperial oppression in its founding years, surely you are all not so jaded that you are no longer capable of finding within yourselves that kind of courage and ability to stand on principle again. The Minutemen, the citizens' militia that helped establish freedom and found America, set the example and your gun laws were designed to ensure that the citizen could protect their Constitution, that's why the gun laws exist and not for any other reason. No, I don't agree with the gun laws, but it is why they exist.
The true State of your Nation is characterized in the words you find in these comments posted by all who contribute here and on similar blogs and I frankly admire those who have the courage to speak out, that's democracy at work and in this case in forums like this are global democracy for people of many nations are contributing here, and that gives me and should each of you, some hope for the future. But words are in the end just words, of little value at all, unless they actually mean something in terms of tangible action and constructive outcome. That is what Soeharto has urged, and I agree with and admire the courage to say exactly that. However, I have little faith in Americans and their words, because the evidence of your words is stacked against you, and this is simply a description of the degree of corruption of each and every American who swears allegiance to their nation, and you are all required to do so or you are not an American citizen. The Constitution is yours to defend. It's YOUR Constitution. You agreed to it. It is you who must defend it, protect it, restore its integrity. That we contribute to and support such an effort is a mark of our commitment and desire to see former American ideals and principles restored to America. We want you to be free of the oppression under which you live, but you have to want it too.
7. The final thing America would have to do is perhaps the most difficult: dismantle the military-industrial complex (military-industrial-media complex now?) that maintains the militarized economy of America and keeps it afloat. Become a truly peaceful nation and not this covert sham of a democracy that pretends to be democratic while in fact it is the world's First Democratic Bully (and if you think that's an oxymoroff*, you're right). Repurpose the military-industrial complex to combat the domestic and ecological problems that have been created by an America that consumes 5 times that of any other nation in the world. I'm not saying "disband the military" I am saying your expenditure in this area is far in excess of what any truly rational peaceful nation requires.
America does not have a monopoly on freedom. America has become that which it sought not to be when it shook off that oppression that lead to its founding as an independent free nation.
I hope America does choose the path described because the alternative of a nation such as America being run by tyrants who truly do have weapons of mass destruction in the desert is not an alternative the world is going to tolerate or put up with for long. If the American people do not put an end to this tyranny, the free world, in the end, will. That's not a scenario I enjoy entertaining or putting in front of you for your consideration. But the world does want peace. We're sick of the wars, the injustice, the travesty and paucity of intellect and reason we see and hear coming out of your once great nation; we just want to get along. We can't get along when nations are acting as rogues and bullies, acting as America has been acting for the last 50-odd years threatening and worsening the state of our security and our ability to live our lives in the pursuit of happiness.
So get to it. Make your words mean something.
*(moroff - on account of they're not "more on" they're "more off")
Demonstrations haven't been effective in diverting Bush/Cheney from their goals, although Chomsky likes to put a happy spin on it by pointing out that the Viet Nam War met with no public resistance at its inception.
KayWrites is tired, her fingers calloused from writing to her representatives. She finds hope in polls that show broad public opposition to the war.
She's not the only one suffering activist fatigue.
Protest hasn't changed Bush's tune, though it has flushed Cheney from his hiding place so that John Dean can chew him up and spit him out. Not that Cheney is quaking in his boots.
Russ June points out that Cheney may be bionically reconstructed. His psychopathy long ago overwhelmed his normal human heart. He knows no limitation and no fear, apparently.
And the woeful cry goes out: What should we DO!
Maybe there is nothing that can be done just at this moment beyond the work of understanding the situation as it really is.
Does anyone wonder why Bush & Cheney seem to have so little fear of Congress? We know they regard the Constitution and the statutes with contempt and disregard them with impunity, but why don't they fear the anger of Congress?
Because Congress has been neutralized. Massive public protests, letter writing, phone calls, etc, seem to be less effective than in the past. Congress is not responding to the will of the people.
Aside from the fact that most members have been bought and paid for, there are other ways the Congress can be rendered ineffective. The polarization referred to by earlier posters has become something more than ideological disputation
No ostensibly progressive member will announce to the world that he or she voted to fund the surge because of a phone call in the middle of the night, not unlike the phone call a hapless US Attorney received from a certain conservative Republican senator.
But this phone call had more teeth. The anonymous voice claimed to have evidence of certain embarrassing indiscretions on the part of this erstwhile progressive MOC. Phone records, e-mail, photos, tax documents, sealed juvenile criminal records, etc, etc. The progressive MOC would not cry foul and shout indignation. He or she would quietly rationalize the betrayal of the progressive agenda, finding common ground with other progressives following the same "realistic" path.
The violation of the 4th Amendment ordered by Bush/Cheney and implemented by General Michael Hayden, then chief of the NSA, was an excellent opportunity to gather data on everyone who is anyone in the world of national politics. Nixon's enemies list is now a terrabyte database.
Assume that if you have political influence, you have your own dossier. If you are Nancy Pelosi, you have received anonymous phone calls that are astonishingly well informed about your most personal and family domain.
Blackmail and extortion, bribery, vote rigging, any and all of the political black arts inspire Bush/Cheney in their contempt of Congress and the Constitution and endow them with their false courage.
The problem with so many progressive activists is that they have no imagination for evil.
There are structural problems that make Congress unresponsive, problems like the fact that there are too many people per representative. Divide the number of people by the number of MOC's to get the idea. There are only two parties and at least half a dozen viable constituencies.
But, structural issues aside, which weaken representative government, there are sociopathic people in seats of power, perhaps moreso in this administration than in any other.
When the CIA reveals the "family jewels", it does so only because it fears no repercussions from these revelations of past evil deeds. The secret intelligence agencies feel very secure. We have no real idea of what they are doing with their black budgets, but one thing we do know for certain, they have never been less incumbered by oversight than they have been since 9/11.
Progressives have little imagination for evil. The idea that the US government is a criminal organization just seems over the top, far out there. It is a repellant idea because it seems so cynical and conspiracy-based, and yet John Dean has argued very succinctly that Dick Cheney is a criminal. That means he is an unindicted criminial. Criminal are expert at exploiting naivity in their victims. They think the unthinkable and do the unthinkable and get away with it
because the general public has no imagination for evil, the evil right here in River City, that parades around in the guise of high public office.
The progressive agenda is not effective because it does not recognize what it is up against. It lacks the insight and understanding to formulate a successful strategy.
Even a hardcore analyst like Chalmers Johnson cannot bring himself to believe that 9/11 was a coup, a successful coup, on the part of that hidden cabal for which Cheney is a public face. Nor can Noam Chomsky. No progressive leader can be called a progressive leader if he or she preaches the truth of 9/11.
To progressives, denial is just a river in Egypt.
So, we have only to wait a while longer to see what happens when these unindicted criminals begin to feel insecure, when they begin to feel the gathering threat to their power from a public fed up with this war. When KayWrites begins to feel more energized, that is when the clamp down will happen. 9/11, the Sequel.
Things are not as they seem. There is only one way to reverse Cheney's coup d'etat and that is to believe that it happened in the first place. Let go of the idealistic nostalgia for a people's government and face the reality on the ground.
First take the blinders off, then take the gloves off.
"First take the blinders off, then take the gloves off."
Amen!
Shotgun Dick has the power because he takes it. Bu$h the inferior is too much of a wimp to reel the bastard in.
Most members of Congress only care about getting elected and filling their pockets with cash.
The people care about Paris Hilton and American Idol.
When the shit hits the fan and splatters on enough of the people they will care and Congress will act slightly more responsibly to save their sorry asses.
If Shotgun Dick is still around he will be pushed back in the sewer he slithered out of.
If it's any comfort, folks, remember that Empires
always fail. And ours will fail faster than the
Roman or British...as fewer volunteers sign up
to be i.e.d. fodder, as the dollar sinks to unparalleled lows, Pax Americana can't last....
Acd moreover, somewhere, in the bowels of this administration, a lowly bureaucrat is finding a way to liberate a document that will blow this whole farce sky high. Wait on it....
It is very strange, but this lovely debate triggered by Soeharto indictment of American government along with American people, misses the point; or so it seems to me. Most posts discuss personal responsibility and some even direct question s to NGO hero from UK as what would he advise to do and how to inform dumb Americans, who vote kakistocracy into office. Typical response is: "Mis- and dis-information campaigns promulgated via the mass media are highly effective, nevertheless", followed by "Americans are willfully ignorant — too many Americans choose to stay uninformed because to be informed would be "too upsetting.""
The truth of course is that any talk about democracy, elections, writing to representatives, jamming phone- and email traffic with petitions &c &c is exactly what guardians of long dead order want us to believe and upon that false belief system; for talk is chip, while organizing is everything.
But mere organizing without all encompassing and holistic idea, as Marxism once was, is nothing but day dreaming. And the more we dream, the further we, as American citizens, moving from reality, rather than toward it. It seems so obvious that organized Capital may be opposed only by organized Labor, that only miracle can explain why American people are so oblivious to such a self-evident truth. In my humble opinion, the reason mainly lay that to-day labor is so much different from it muscular predecessor, which brought so much to what many of us call "good old days" and what MSM dismiss as socialist traitor to his class FDR.
There are good reasons for such self-indulgence of majority of American people: all potential ways – social-democratic, progressive, communist, anarchist and many others - to alter "Standard Economic Model" were bulldozed so thoroughly, that only Christian and Market Talibans may grow in their stead. One may argue that we have green, gay, lesbian, African-American, and thousand other movements for any particular cause, which do thrive in America. But what is about holistic part of the American Way?
So, instead, holistic and transcendent Way aimed on all humankind, America offers an individualistic surrogate, the American Dream about sweat home and personal monetary success with prevailing command, "Everyone for oneself and let all losers cry". That make George W Bush right in his assessment of terrorist motifs: "They hate us for what we are." How true it is and how much easier would it be if they hated us what for what we do!
How much easier to change our government than to change 200 years of post-revolutionary drift toward worshipping individual wealth, while ignoring Old World dictum nobles oblige. Well, the good news is that 67% of Americans feel that we are on the wrong track and we need U-turn. In political terminology U-turn is called Revolution with capital R, not la etter writing campaign.
fligloot:
"OK, Soeharto, I agree that the US is guilty of many sins. But, before you rant some more about our failings, let me point out that in 1944 I was stationed at Horsham St. Faith, near Norwich, whence I flew 35 missions over enemy territory to save your (or your parent's) ass."
Very typical response indeed. And how many German divisions Mr. Fligloot and his buddies killed in the process? Who actually took off 80% of Wehrmacht to save fligloot's parent ass from Nazi dominated world?
I do not diminish great role of American economic power to help to vanquish the 3rd Reich, but to ask mercy in perpetuity from Britts and especially French seems to me law style indeed. I saw Stalingrad Plaza in Paris, whereas American schoolchildren sincerely believe that Americans did it alone fighting against Germans and ugly Russians.