If you thought warrantless wiretapping and a signing
statement proclaiming the right to torture were bad, you’ll be shocked to learn
the full scope of Bush’s power grab, in which he has claimed the authority to
disobey over 750 laws passed while he has been president. An article in Sunday’s Boston Globe
documented the extent to which Bush has usurped power for the executive branch
and shredded the rule of law in the process.
While you might be aware of the most egregious examples, what makes this
all the more ominous is the degree to which this has become systematic under
the Bush regime.
In his more than 5 years in office, Bush has never vetoed a
single law passed by Congress (which hasn’t happened since Thomas Jefferson was
president). The reason: vetoing a law
would allow Congress to challenge the president and bring the contention into
the light of day. To get around this,
Bush routinely issues signing statements attached to new laws, declaring his
right to ignore certain provisions or even the whole law, and giving his own
interpretation to them (which often is in stark contradiction to the intent of
the law being passed). These signing
statements are ultimately what set government policy. To cite one recent example, when the Patriot
Act was recently made permanent, as fascistic as that was in its own right,
Bush decided that he would not abide by provisions for oversight by Congress.
This practice of directly going against laws passed by
Congress runs the gamut, including:
-Diverting money to secret military operations, including ‘black
site’ torture chambers.-Allowing the military to use intelligence collected illegally.
-While signing the McCain bill (which provided plenty of
loopholes for torture), Bush openly proclaimed his right not to follow the law.-Refusing to train the military in and abide by the Geneva
Conventions.-Declaring that the administration does not have to give
protection to government whistle-blowers.
Christopher Kelley, a Miami University of Ohio political
science professor who studies executive power, characterized it this way: ”He
agrees to a compromise with members of Congress, and all of them are there for
a public bill-signing ceremony, but then he takes back those compromises — and
more often than not, without the Congress or the press or the public knowing
what has happened.”
Bush has also decided that his administration is not bound
by Supreme Court decisions. One salient
example is the at least 9 times in which Bush has refused to follow court
rulings ensuring minorities are represented in government employment, and
dismantling established legal precedent for affirmative action.
While presidents throughout history have at times went
against laws passed by Congress and utilized executive power to act outside of
the law, none have done so with the scale scope, and in such a systematic way
as Bush. And while the practice of
issuing signing statements regularly began in the Reagan administration (and
was crafted by none other than now Supreme Court Justice Alito), the number of signing
statements under the Bush administration have far exceeded any previous
presidency and done away with any semblance of caution or respect for the rule
of law.
The fact is, government is being radically remade, with the
rule of law no longer applying to an executive branch that is everyday usurping
more unchecked power. This regime does
not play by the rules, and putting our hopes into Congress or legal proceedings
to stop this fascistic direction would be ignoring the drastic changes being
made in how society is being governed. It
will take an unprecedented resistance movement from the people to what many
legal scholars characterize as an unprecedented executive power grab, with the
effects being that torture is legal, the government can spy on whoever it
wants, and can get away with any of the crimes it commits.
Bruce Fein, a deputy attorney general in the Reagan
administration, summarized it this way: ”This is an attempt by the president
to have the final word on his own constitutional powers, which eliminates the
checks and balances that keep the country a democracy. There is no way for an independent judiciary
to check his assertions of power, and Congress isn’t doing it, either. So this
is moving us toward an unlimited executive power.”
There may not be a Reichstag fire used to dismantle the
legislative branch and suspend the Constitution, and elections (fraudulent as
they may be) could continue, but if this power grab is allowed to continue
unchecked, the effects may very well be the same. That which you will not resist and mobilize to
stop, you will learn ( or be forced ( to accept.
The World Can’t Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime!
(Source: Bush challenges hundreds of laws, Boston Globe, 4/30/06)