From Superpower to Tinhorn Dictatorship

From Superpower to Tinhorn Dictatorship By Paul Craig Roberts 02/27/06 "ICH" -- -- America is headed for a soft dictatorship by the end of Bush’s second term. Whether any American has civil rights will be decided by the discretionary power of federal officials. The public in general will tolerate the soft dictatorship as its discretionary powers will mainly be felt by those few who challenge it. The congressional elections this coming November are the last chance for for Americans to reaffirm the separation of powers that is the basis of their civil liberties. Unless the voters correct their mistake of putting both the executive and legislative branches in the hands of the same party and deliver the House or the Senate to the Democrats, there is nothing on the domestic scene to stand in the way of more power, and less accountability, being accumulated in the executive. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12096.htm

Comments

Interesting thought

Submitted by Dark Horse on March 4, 2006 - 1:43am.

If it goes past one or two cycles it could become a fait accompli democratic strategy to lean toward "rule" just to stay in the game. If that were ever to become the case, they would surely begin to like the feeling, afterall, it is the nature of the beast.

dh

The obvious is always obvious; and, nothing is ever as it appears.

Some valid points...

Submitted by bass on March 1, 2006 - 11:08am.

I read the entire piece, and I believe that he has
some valid points. I do believe that he is perhaps
being a little alarmist. Even if the GOP manages to
hold onto majorities in both Houses of Congress, something
I don't believe likely, our form of government is
not doomed. Already, some members of the GOP are starting
to recognize how hazardous their nearly complete support
for the Bush Administration has become. They are starting
to think about their own self-preservation. Witness
the whole UAE-controlled port thing.
Do threats to our civil liberties exist? Definitely,
and I have no faith in the Roberts court to preserve them.
But, if major civil rights are abridged by the Court,
action will be taken to rectify that. States will step
in to guarantee some of them, like abortion. Constitutional Amendments will be proposed if necessary. People will
rise up. Am I being too optimistic? Perhaps. I am
curious to see what the midterms bring.

You got that right brother

Submitted by Xandorf on March 1, 2006 - 1:45pm.

I just thought that it was an interesting peice,
there is no way that a dictatorship of any kind
could prevail here. I mean if a few thousand
Iraqis can bogg down 10 U.S. divisions, what does
our government think that a few thousand Americans
could do. And we have a lot more cracks to slip
into here than the Iraqi insurgents do.
For example, the D.C. snipers went on the rampage
for weeks. And the government seemed powerless to
stop them. I just hope that the govenment takes a
step back, and realises the the effect of
thrusting civil war upon us.

It was an interesting piece,

Submitted by bass on March 2, 2006 - 9:28pm.

It was an interesting piece, and provided some food
for thought, but as I said above, maybe too alarmist.
I had a disagreement with someone yesterday because
she was saying how she was going to oppose pretty much
all incumbents, and try to get some ultra-liberals
nominated. I told her that was a great way to keep the
GOP in charge of both houses of Congress. Change can
only come with baby steps.