George has another grab at absolute power with this National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive.
So here's a scenario. It is September 2008. The Democratic party nominee for President is leading the Republican nominee 65 to 28 in the polls.
Al-Qaeda hates America and are planning attacks. We are fighting them over there (still) and the numbers haven't changed. We're still losing a hundred soldiers a month plus upwards of 1,000 Iraqis a month. We're turning the corner, if we just give it some more time there is light at the end of the tunnel. The insurgency is in it's last throes.
Suddenly and without warning, the attack occurs. The congressional cafeteria. Freedom fries have been prepared with contaminated oil. The oil contains high levels of trans fats. Congressmen and women immediately blow up to Hastert size and are incapable of performing their job functions. They either cannot get out of the cafeteria or cannot get into the capitol because they have exceeded the size of the entrances. Even if they could, they cannot be present in the same room due to floor loading issues.
The Supreme Court is out of session and justices have returned to their homes for some well deserved R&R after some rigorous right wing justicing. Mysteriously, they are all afflicted with serious cases of Restless Leg Syndrome. The Supremes are physically incapacitated.
Congress cannot function. The Supreme Court is "down". Who perpetrated this ghastly attack that has brought the government to it's knees?
The President declares an emergency and assumes absolute control.
As we all know, a win for the Democrats is a win for Al-Qaeda. The president cannot allow Al-Qaeda to win the General Election.
The president issues a directive that confers the powers of the Supreme Court on the Attorney-General, Alberto Gonzales. Gonzo has weathered a few storms so is battle hardened and up to the challenge of impersonating the Supremes with no problem.
Since we are a "Nation Of Laws", the President goes to the AG with a case to indefinitely suspend the general election due to the crisis in the congress and "clear and present danger" that the Al-Qaeda candidate will win the presidency.
The AG (aka The Supreme Court) ponders the issue long and hard (for about 0.3 milliseconds) before deciding that in this time of emergency, this heinous attack on the "American way of life" and our civilization, the President has made his case and the General Election is suspended indefinitely.
The President gives himself the power to suspend specific clauses of the constitution in times of war. This is challenged by some but ultimately the Supreme Court (the AG) rules in favor of the President. Many laws can already be usurped due to the President's clever foresight in the use of signing statements in previous years.
Since Congressmen cannot be replaced unless elected and the election has been suspended, another presidential directive is necessary in this dire emergency. This time the President gives himself the power to appoint replacement "interim" congressmen. He immediately delegates this task to Karl Rove and Monica Goodling.
Certain media outlets are assessed to be promoting enemy propaganda and talking points thus providing aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of war. A presidential directive creates a new agency and provides that Roger Ailes be appointed as the "media content czar". All content intended to be available to the public via any media format must be approved by the new agency FUCIT (Federal Universal Content and Information Transfer Agency).
The president appears on national TV to smooth our furrowed brows by assuring us that he will leave no stone unturned and will not rest until the last "America Hater" is brought to justice or killed. The President says that "only when this solemn promise to the American People has been delivered upon, only when our way of life has been successfully defended can we expect a return to something resembling normalcy". The President will defend us in this "War on America".
The first task for the "new" congress is to pass a law that allows the President's term to be extended indefinitely in a time of war.
Fast forward a couple of years. The Supreme Court has been reconvened although justices have been sent to undisclosed locations to assure continuity of the court. Mysteriously, the four most moderate justices have disappeared and been replaced by Wolfowitz, Feith, Miers and Rumsfeld via interim appointments. There is rumor that a justice is about to retire and Gonzo will be appointed to the bench. Bernard Kerik will replace Gonzales as the new AG (Tony Soprano was not available). Rush Limbaugh has become the Special Secretary for Truth-Telling.
The people are agitated. A revolution is brewing. The CIA, FBI and ASS (American Security Services), with total freedom to monitor every communication and every person, has no trouble in rounding up the "domestic terrorists" and sending them to the mass internment camps in the north. The main camp, formerly the state of Massachusetts, now holds 12 million "Enemies of America".
Periodically, the government allows an armed "uprising" to occur. This provides the opportunity for the uprising to be squashed with "shock and awe" like tactics. Typical of the response, Rhode Island is now pretty much a deserted wasteland. This serves as a warning to other Enemies of America that attacks on America will be met with a steadfast and determined response.
Be afraid America... be very afraid.