Glenn Greenwald wrote a stunning and frightening blog article today on the naked claims made by Bush administration sympathizers that the US President should ignore the law to be a more effective leader. Read the whole thing here:
The right's explicit and candid rejection of "the rule of law"
This is probably the most important information I have read online since Bush was elected. It explains the endless evasions, half-truths, and lies that have characterized the criminal enterprise called the Bush Administration. Yet Greenwald does not raise the ultimate question. Who will defend our Constitution against a tyrant? Let us consider this issue:
To put Greenwald's case compactly, Ceasarism is the preferred method of government in right-wing circles. Courts, parliaments, commissions, petitions, and, above all, laws, are inferior to the vigorous "energy" of "one-man rule." Where the tyranny advocates differ with most students of history is in viewing the talents of the "prince" to be irrelevant. It is evidently their view that even a bumbler like Bush Jr., who refuses to submit to law, is preferable to a "weak" leader of superior talents.
It is not hard to imagine the current standoff between Congressional committees and the White House leading to court verdicts demanding White House compliance. What then? Andrew Jackson famously defied the Supreme Court and persisted in genocidal policies against native Americans. What if Bush defies the courts and Congress?
There is one final arbiter of physical power in the United States: the armed forces. These forces swear an oath, not to the President, but to the Constitution, and they will be the final check on the imposition of creeping tyranny on the United States. When the Constitutional crisis hits, we will find out if our Army has been undermined by right-wing fanatics. The intervention of the Army is unfortunately a frequent occurrence in politically unstable countries, but BushCo has brought this instability to America with its radical and grotesque vision of a "unitary executive" engaged in a perpetual war.
Just before Nixon left office, government officials consulted with the Joint Chiefs to make sure that Nixon would not be able to mount a military coup to remain in power. Such consultations are appropriate now to avert the worst possible outcome of the rogue presidency of Bush.