Posted on 01/20/2009 10:31:13 AM PST by Kaslin
Modern liberalism shows remarkably little concern for freedom, democracy, and the will of the people if it's not politically expedient, but now some of the most influential members of the Democratic Party are starting to drift towards outright fascism with the suggestion that members of the Bush Administration should be jailed once they leave power.
For example, we have Paul Krugman caterwauling that Bush should be investigated for his policy on the environment, voting rights issues, political appointees, contracts in Iraq, and because ludicrously, Krugman claims Bush "deliberately misled the nation into invading Iraq."
Furthermore, John Conyers has spoken of going after the Bush Administration for "illegal wiretapping, torture, detention, and other practices (that) could land some members in an international tribunal."
Additionally, Vice-President Joe Biden and House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi have both declared that they're also open to prosecuting members of the Bush Administration.
Let's be very clear what these Democrats want to do: because they hate George Bush and the Republican Party, they're proposing partisan witch hunts in search of a crime that they can use to jail members of the Bush Administration. In other words, this has nothing to do with anyone, including the President, being "above the law." We're not talking about perjury, bribery, corruption, a Nixonian break-in, or some other real crime.
To the contrary, what we're really discussing is the party in power abusing their office to try to jail their political opponents over policy differences. Put another way, it's the sort of thing we'd expect to see in Putin's Russia, Hugo Chavez's Venezuela, or Castro's Cuba -- not in the United States of America.
Now, some people have spoken out against going after members of the Bush Administration on the grounds that it would create partisan division -- but that understates the problem to such an extent that it's like referring to the sun as a "wee bit hot."
Trying to prosecute key Bush Administration officials on what are viewed as trumped up, politically based charges would create a firestorm of partisanship and outright hatred that would surpass anything in American history since the Civil War. Members of a political party in the United States, whether it be Republican or Democrat, are simply not going to stand by idly with their hands in their pockets while their political views are criminalized.
At best, this would lead to tit-for-tat prosecutions. By that, I mean if Democrats throw George W. Bush in jail for ten years, Republicans will do their best to find an excuse to throw Barack Obama in jail for ten years -- and don't think it can't happen. The American political system tends to be cyclical and so today the Democrats may be on top -- but in four to eight years, when Obama leaves office, it's entirely possible the GOP could be in charge of both Houses of Congress -- and looking for an opportunity to get payback for Bush. Again, that is the best case scenario. The worst case scenario could mean blood in the streets, riots, and a breakdown of the "orderly transfer of power" that has always been a hallmark of American democracy.
One of the reasons that has never been an issue previously is precisely because the loss of power for an American politician doesn't mean that he's threatened with the loss of his life or liberty. If we throw the rule of law out the window and leaving office may mean a prison sentence or worse, those "orderly transfers of power" we have in this country are going to begin to break down -- and politicians will use any means necessary to remain in charge. It's understandable if that sounds farfetched since events of that sort haven't happened on a widespread scale here since the Civil War, but there are many nations across the world where a change of leadership is a terrifying and violent ordeal for the populace. There's very little to be said for potentially joining their ranks.
However, if Krugman, Conyers, Pelosi, Biden and Company get their way and we abandon a practice that has helped assure political stability for more than two centuries in this country, then we should not be surprised if America starts to experience the same troubles as the unstable banana republics that we've always urged to follow our example. That would be a truly disastrous turning point for our democracy and that's why it's highly irresponsible for Democratic officials to even publicly speculate about going down that dark and perilous road.
One could hope, but with Republicans you never know anymore.
This is indeed a mad, mad, mad world.
Just ask Scooter Libby and the two border guards if we don’t already have political prisoners in the United States. Sadly, I fear we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to criminal prosecutions being used as a political weapon.
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There is no faster way to dis-empower the 0bama Administration than to look backwards and apply the power of government against their predecessors. The American people won't stand for it.
So if they want to destroy the 0bama presidency, have at! It won't work legally, politically or strategically.
If they were truly this blind with power to proceed with political persecutions it truly shall be the time to refresh the tree of liberty. I’ve come from a place where those that wrote books and didn’t agree with the party lines were imprisoned. I was too young to understand then. This time there will be no leaving. A stand will have to be made.
The liberals have made a show of bashing President Bush....now they are in charge, without ready solutions, hence the desire to deflect attention away from the real issues of the day, and President Bush is an available target...talk is cheap....
I'm not so sure any more.. the country has gone nuts
amen to that....
They can’t “endanger” American democracy because America is not a democracy, it is a republic.
Could they endanger the republic? Yep, but I lean toward the idea that the public distaste for this tactic would cause his standing and agenda to dwindle.
Sorry for the rant but I am tired of people who should know better referring to our constitutional republic as a democracy. A democracy is the last thing our founding fathers wanted us to be.
Criminalizing political actions, simply because the other guy wasn’t doing all that was thought necessary, is setting the stage for some very serious reprisals in the future.
Perhaps anarchy does have its blessings and charm, but that does not work when one side or the other has the means to totally obliterate of incapacitate the opposition. Willingly or otherwise, order is eventually restored even to the most unruly venue, and with that degree of order, comes strictures so severe that it would seems the torch of liberty is extinguished forever.
Will the nascent obama regime take the easy exit from some of the major foreign policy problems, and just scram on their responsibilities? It is rather like solving a Rubik’s Cube, which has to be laid out more with an eye to future moves than the magical twist that solves it immediately. Except that just as the moves seem to be lining up, some invisible hand turns the “solution” into a new puzzle.
Do it you dumb@$$e$. We already have enough reasons for an armed revolution. Whats one more?
“that’s why it’s highly irresponsible for democratic officials to even publicly speculate about going down that dark political road.”
stalinists will be stalinists; it’s the way of the revolution dontcha know.
IMHO
I think the Democrats, with the MSM's active participation can actually pull it off. With about 1/3 of the Republicans now in office, it wouldn't take much for their compliant participation.
They probably don't expect the Republicans ever to have the White House or a majority in Congress again...and will enfranchise enough aliens to make sure.
That would be bad enough but this particular set of demands includes the notion of trying outgoing officials in some international tribunal for "crimes against humanity," an impossibly vague and hence useful category that can lead absolutely anywhere but justice. Under U.S. jurisprudence the accusation - Paul Krugman's - that Bush lied with respect to intelligence data to promote intervention, would have to be proven. It is, actually, demonstrably false. Where the rules of evidence are a bit less restrictive accusation is enough if it's repeated often enough, and this one certainly has been.
But that is the intention behind show trials - far more show than trial, a triumph of political psychodrama over any actual determination of fact. In the last eight years the Democrats have shown a fondness for psychodrama and a cavalier dismissal of contraindicative fact. That is a recipe for despotism, not justice.
I have no worries, the Republicans will protect me.
Stop it! Just stop it, already! This kind of juvenile thinking is wrong on several levels, and it contributed to our being in the minority now. Libby and the border agents broke the law and were duly convicted in courts of law. Although in Libby's case I think the particular law involved should be ruled unconstitutional on 5th Amendment grounds, neither he nor the agents are "political prisoners." They never were. Libby never served a day in jail. Thanks to the commutation of their sentences by President Bush, the agents are now free.
We have so much on our plate if we are to have the strength of numbers to effectively oppose the Marxist Democrats now in power. The absolute last thing we can afford is to do is continue to indulge in foolishness.
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