|
It looks like Bush and Cheney want to force impeachment on the lily livered Congress, figuring upon having 34 votes in the Senate to remain in power. It also appears that they do not care about public opinion polls or the threat of the next election. They obviously are not afraid of having their hand called.
This is the weirdest time yet in the ongoing nightmare of post-9-11 America. Here at Democratic Underground, you can find threads with speculation about how Bush and Cheney must have a massive blackmail operation going on to intimidate the Democratic politicians from taking action, or worse -- that the Democratic politicians are physically afraid of meeting Paul Wellstone's fate.
Another operating hypothesis with a lot of adherents holds that the Dems are just cowardly about taking any kind of stand without there being anything to fear. These posters are invariably angry and often sarcastic, painting a totally bleak picture of our paralyzed government, offering no hope for democracy.
Then there are some die-hard Democratic party loyalists who have been making tactical arguments about the unwisdom of impeachment for various reasons: it would distract from important legislative goals; it would blow up in our faces politically as there is no national majority in favor of it; it would fail in the Senate regardless.
Among the paranoid fantasts, the pouting fatalists who condemn the Dems, and the myopic party loyalists repeating the thin rationalizations offered by Pelosi and Reid, the common denominator is that they all cast themselves as observers of democracy rather than participants.
To be sure, there are a lot of people at DU who do advocate direct action through pressure on our Congressional Representatives -- which is how Democracy is supposed to work on paper. But it amazes me how many people are motivated enough to post on the internet but only to wallow in their own powerlessness. O, woe be unto us -- as the Bush Crime Family has its boot on the throat of Congress. O, we are screwed -- as the Dems are too weak and too complicit in the Bush assault on democracy to do their jobs as Members of Congress. O, gosh, the political scenario just doesn't work out to allow for a continuation of Constitutional government.
Passive, passive, passive -- I call it the TV Generation mindset. The internet allows us powerless souls the privilege of commenting on the commings and goings of the powerful, yet we remain nobody ourselves, because nobody has ever heard of us. This mindset betrays a bizarre self-disempowerment.
Ever since Florida 2000, I have believed that this extremely well organized assault on the rule of law will only be defeated by the direct action of millions of Americans. The problem for Bush and his relatively small cadre of supporters is that demographic changes have put an end to the Reagan Coalition's majority status. They can maintain their grip on power only by dismantling democracy -- which they have systematically been busy doing for nearly seven years now. We can win, but we have to quit whining and start taking action.
We have to get millions of people to join us in confronting the Congress with the bitter truth about the Bush Administration. It is trying to destroy the Constitution. The only reason why Bush has not yet been brought to heel is that we, the people, seem to think it is somebody's else's chore to save democracy.
The bet is placed -- all in. It is time to call the hand.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(447 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
