A frightening thought I came across going back through my writings.

[Pab Sungenis]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1297103

I wrote this back when the Feds raided William Jefferson's office. While I'm annoyed that he got re-elected and hope Pelosi is going to crack down on him big time, I still found the precedent chilling. At the time, I hadn't expected us to win back the Congress in November, and didn't think it would be possible for Bush to do this. It's also chilling that now only one Senator has to fall to this if * decides it's time to use his dictator powers.

Let's imagine a future time, with a new President and a new Congress. We'll leave which party holds the White House and which holds the Congress vague for now, since this really is (or should be) a bipartisan issue. Suffice it to say in this scenario that the President is from Party A, and that Party B has just won control of Congress by narrow margins. They will be taking over on January 3rd.

January 2nd, there is a huge operation put into force. With National Security letters under their belts and some trumped up charges to justify it, FBI agents raid the offices of and arrest twenty Representatives and five Senators from Party B. Since the Supreme Court has already allowed the President to do so, he declares them enemy combatants, and orders them held without charge and without trial. The next day, the new Congress convenes. Although a fair number of members are absent and unable to take the oath, there is still a sufficient quorum. When the votes are cast for Speaker of the House and for reorganizing the Senate, lo and behold, it is Party A, not B, that is back in control.

As the months go on, there might be some resistence to the President's policies, which are starting to become more extreme, even from within his own party. The Speaker of the House decides not to let a favorite bill of the Administration's go to the floor. The next day, the FBI storms the Speaker's office, and "finds" evidence of corruption, money laundering, and white slavery. The Speaker is arrested and out of the picture. The Majority Leader, acting as Speaker, gets the message, and lets the bill go to a vote, which the President wins.

From that point on, it isn't hard to imagine the President using his "enforcement" powers to thin out the herd enough until a Rump Congress, cowed into submission by the scope of the "scandals" amongst them, declare a state of Emergency and suspend Congress, giving the President dictatorial powers. Since the President is Commander In Chief and controls the military, there can be no hope of a citizen uprising. All hail the Emporer.

It's a bit far fetched, but not far fetched enough to be amusing instead of scary. The Congress has already abrogated much of its oversight ability and its check and balance on the Executive. The Supreme Court has already been successfully packed with the cooperation of an acquiescent Senate. The PATRIOT Act and refusal to rein in the President's power over "enemy combatants" has already given George W. Bush near dictatorial power; he hasn't yet used it is all. But what if (as I said before) an even less ethical man is in the White House with all that power at his control? What if we wind up with someone in position who WANTS to weild that power, and WILL do so?

I pray that what I posted back in the Spring is nothing more than a fictional nightmare scenario, but with the Bush Crime Family in power, we never know.

[Tellurian]

1. Here's a more accurate picture

of the way things are, if you really want to know.

The first part of your scenario would never happen.

Why? Because * doesn't have to be that obvious or extreme.
The danger of blacklash too risky.

read here, it will give you a keener insight into the present.

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/sep/29/the_star_chamber