Kagro X posted a diary yesterday on George W. Bush's threat to defy Congressional subpoenas. That diary ended with a line to make your blood run cold: "...the day they get five Justices to say they're right, everything you thought you knew about checks and balances becomes wrong."
Kagro X was right. So gut-wrenchingly right that thinking beyond a ruling like that is an exercise in mental masochism.
But we have to, because the logical conclusion to what Kagro X wrote is the end of democracy as we know it. We have six years of experience with George W. Bush's single-minded pursuit of dictatorship on which to base an assessment of the ultimate effect of ratification of his "unitary executive" theory by the Supreme Court. The implications are staggering.
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This administration believes it has a mandate from god to rule the United States completely. Every action they have taken is directed toward that end. Should the Supreme Court allow them to exert executive privilege in the current investigations into corrupution within the White House, the means toward that end will have been set in motion.
The Supreme Court is subject to few of the checks and balances that apply to the Executive and Legislative branches. That's one of the reasons why Democrats' pathetic lack of opposition to the Roberts and Alito nominations courted disaster. The Supreme Court can virtually rewrite the Constitution and the only effective check on them is to amend it. An amendment takes years to pass, if it can be done at all. (Women will understand this particularly well, given the outcome of the ERA.)
It's reckless to ignore any longer the possibility that we've seen our last free elections. The current administration has followed a path so totally focused on complete control of our country and everyone in it that the logical conclusion is, having finally accomplished their goal with the mindless compliance of the court which placed them in power, they will not relinquish the offices which provide them that control.
Relying on this Supreme Court to see that justice is done is foolhardy. It is up to us, through our representatives, to stop the destruction of our system of government. You're tired of being told to write your Congressman and Senators. I don't care. I'm going to tell you again. Write them. In this day and age snail mail is such a rarity that it attracts attention like no other form of communication. Call them. Your voice is a reminder that voters are real people. Fax them. A hard-copy communication is tangible evidence of your thoughts and existence. As a laast resort, e-mail them. It won't get the attention or respect other methods of communication do but it's at least something. Keep after them until the danger is past and our democracy is strong once more.
We must not rest in our efforts to support and encourage Congress in its pursuit of the truth. If we do, the "great experiment" is over.