Gene Lyons: Have Americans lost the guts for democracy?

[Dudley_DUright]

Every time George W. Bush gets caught in a tight spot, he does the same thing: He plays the 9/11 fear card, wraps himself in the flag, emits jawdropping falsehoods and all but accuses his critics of treason. So it is with the stunning revelation that the White House has ordered the illegal, warrantless wiretapping of American citizens in brazen defiance of federal law and the U. S. Constitution. If allowed to stand, Bush’s actions will have taken the United States a long way down the road to military dictatorship. Indeed, that’s essentially what his legalistic enablers, starting with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Vice President Dick Cheney, argue that in wartime, the commander-in-chief can take any action he deems appropriate to protect the nation, bypassing Congress and the courts to assert the primacy of the presidency until declaring victory in the “war on terror.” As terrorism is not an enemy, but a tactic—a vile, cowardly tactic, but by definition not subject to being defeated—the metaphorical war against it could last indefinitely. And as long as it lasts, the commander-in-chief rules by fiat. Our constitutional rights exist at his sufferance.

If the president, any president, can unilaterally declare the Fourth Amendment forbidding unreasonable search and seizure null and void, why not the First Amendment protecting a free press ? Why not the Second Amendment ? We can’t let terrorists have guns, can we ?

Far-fetched ? Today, maybe. Tomorrow, maybe not. This drugstore cowboy won’t be president forever, you know. Anyway, I take it to be roughly those things that Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam war veteran, meant when he emphasized that “I took an oath of office to the Constitution. I didn’t take an oath of office to my party or to my president.”

more...

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Editorial/141540/

[sui generis]

1. it's not guts, it's critical thinking

this is the natural outcome of the Reagan "back to basics" education initiatives, "readin, 'ritin, and 'rithmetic".

When we took away funding for civics, high school philosophy, world politics, etc., the "liberal" education that taught kids about the many-colored social world they live in and taught them to question and observe and draw their own conclusions, taught them to be curious, Reagan laid the groundwork for generations of selfish, stupid, fear-driven neo-cons, apathists, and hummer driving "me me me" soccer moms.

[ClassWarrior]

5. Has more impact as a meme if you call it "guts."

NGU.

[htuttle]

2. Americans are cowards now

As a nation, we have attempted to trade liberty for temporary security, and as Ben Franklin warned, we now deserve neither...

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. There is hope

I followed the link. The paper who posted this is the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which, despite its title, is a right wing rag that has a very conservative bent.

[OneBlueSky]

4. Americans have been programmed to equate democracy with . . .

capitalism and free markets . . . to many, they're one and the same . . . BushCo propaganda has done its job well . . .

[DavidDvorkin]

6. Did the majority ever have it?

The American Experiment was created by a small group of Enlightenment intellectuals who happened to have economic and political power at the time. It was never a popular groundswell.

Would-be tyranny has raised its head and been defeated a few times in our history, but it was always defeated by a small group who saw the danger, again not by a popular groundswell.

Sadly, human nature seems to be to want a king, or a powerful leader/daddy figure of some kind. Americans are as prone to that as anyone else.

[ClassWarrior]

7. Just goes to show that WE CAN make a difference...

As long as we...

Never Give Up.

[DavidDvorkin]

8. That's a good point

A vocal, determined minority can determine the course of the country for a long time to come.

The right wing demonstrated that. They buckled down after the 1964 election and eventually took over.

[AndreiX]

9. We need a movement

That's why we need a movement of thousands... no, millions... of people ready to act and fight to stop the Bush Regime dead in its tracks... we gotta wake people up to bite the hand that feeds!

I'm tellin' y'all, be out in Washington D.C. February 4th... we gotta let our voices be heard in the streets of the capital... say that we will not accept the direction this country and this world is going! For more info on what's up on February 4, check out http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=17&Itemid=208

[Clara T]

10. Consumers only want news goo

I am a consumer. I spend the money I make as quickly as possible in Walmart buying colored plastic widgets manufactured in China and imported by corporations controlled by executives making $100M a year. I save some money to give to the GOP in election years. I support all wars past, present, and future. I support cutting down ancient trees and pouring waste into rivers. I oppose paper ballots and think electronic voting is great and don't mind if someone changes my vote after I cast it, because they must have a reason to change it. Therefore I have nothing to hide, RFID is for consumers.