I know this sounds very crazy but lets look at the facts in no uncertain terms.
When you think of how America got to where it is today 10 years ago I would have called anyone who suggested America would elect a President like GWB crazy. So I’m going to breach this subject in an attempt to take a critical look at what everyone in America might consider to be an impossible event.
What makes me suspect that the 2006 elections might be suspended is best summed up by the recent actions and decisions of this administration.
Background: Setting the Stage.
1. The Executive Branch of the American government has to date Displayed a Total Disregard for the Rule of Law.
To make my case here I refer everyone to the latest scandal of this president to simply ignore the Rule of Law (750 and counting) in addition to the illegal domestic NSA wiretapping, the outing of Mr. Wilson’s Wife as a CIA operative and the constant refusal to provide complete information to Congress by the White House. I am not going to elaborate any further since these subjects have been covered extensively in the media and on blogs like Dkos.
At the same time the Execuive Branch has turned back the hands of time and destroyed 150 years of social progress by appointing political agent provocateurs to gut agencies and programs that worked as non-partisan agencies in past administrations.
2. Both the Senate and House of Representatives
have abdicate their sole function as a responsible legislative body to rein in the abuse and concentration of power in the Executive Branch preferring to be only a conduit for every corporate special interest group concerned only with making double and in some cases triple digit profits.
Lawmaking is limited to maximizing the benefits for the rich at the expense of social, economic and educational programs that provided for and defined the common good in America.
3. The Judicial Branch
of the government is now positioned by the appointment of agenda driven Judges to “hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil” on important issues such as the Rule of Law, Violations of Basic Constitutional Rights, torture, abortion, social responsibility and many other concerns which define a Democracy from a Banana Republic Dictatorship.
4. The Mainstream Media
has abdicated all objective reporting and is in fact a government controlled propaganda machine which fails to ask any `hard questions” or follow up with a challenge to information which everyone knows is a complete and total fabrication or outright lie. This failure has lead to a unstated policy that the Freedom of the Press is now the Freedom to Suppress any dissenting voices by the silent treatment, playing dumb and distorting actual facts and events.
5. Multi National Corporations
involvement and backing of the politics of this administration has turned the War on Terror into the War for Cheap Labor no matter what in may cost America in long term stability for future generations. This long standing war on the worker in America has entered a phase where Corporations no longer have to fear strikes by labor unions and rights groups since most of what America consumes is made in other countries. Boycotts, Labor Strikes and Lockouts are a thing of a past era.
6. Polls that show
over 50% of people in America do not care if this administration violates their Constitutional Rights in the name of Security and Waging the War on Terror. This indicates that this majority has little or no understanding of the basic legal principles enshrined in the Constitution or Bill of Rights. The War on Terror is in fact and reality a War on the American Worker to deprive the masses of countering the governments increasing Abuse of Power and it’s most basic responsibility to provide for the common good.
7. A Pervasive Mass Insanity
of self absorption and image without any substance has over the years eroded the ability of all Americans to think independently for themselves in a logical, sane and reasonable fashion. Reality is now defined in terms of an opinion, religious belief or the poltically correct response.
Facts are no longer used to connect the dots since the only thing that counts is who can shout the loudest and longest. This has allowed a general atmosphere of fear, intolerance, indifference and unconcern to prevail and has rendered mass protest against the never ending attacks by the government on the common good all private citizens meaningless.
8. The Questionable Methods Employed
in the last two Presidential Elections has instilled a sense of generalized doubt that such elections will ever be fair in America.
Summation of Above Points
Now given the above background any sane person in America will wonder where all this is headed. I have left out many other events and incidents in this background assessment. The reason being that many of those events and incidents were intended to distract attention from the real issues that are facing America.
So let’s be honest and try to make an attempt to add up the past 6 years and speculate where this is all going to end.
George W. Bush Jr. jokingly commented just after taking office in his first term that “this job would be a lot easier if I were a dictator.”
Today, 6 years after his election America is waking up to the fact that he might not have been joking on this subject.
Now if you take into account the long background of some of the people appointed to his administration you find that these same people worked for various administrations or associated with agencies and organizations who’s espoused a new vision of America as “God’s most favored Nation”.
Many of these people in the administration have direct and indirect ties to extremist religious organizations that openly dismiss Democracy as an unworkable institution. The rational is that America is a “One Nation under Christ” and that the only recognize law is “God’s Law” as presented in the 10 commandments.
Ironically the Christian Extremist very closely resemble their Extremist Muslim Counterparts in that their methods, politics and absolutism parallel each other in their intolerance to moderation, open dialogue and compromise which would result in everybody finding effective solutions to the problems the world faces today.
When you take into account that the American public is starting to wake up to the fact that the entire government of America has been hi-jacked by a religious political doctrine for a secret agenda which has resulted in some of the largest corporate profits ever seen by multi-national corporations it stands to reason that most if not all of this is part of some larger complex plan.
Now throw into this explosive mix an administration with the lowest poll rating of any administration in history, the very real possibility of a limited nuclear war looming with Iran, the hyper exposure of Biological threats and the fear of a nuclear terrorist attack within the continental United States. The overall situation is one of never ending crisis after foreseeable crisis.
It is even at this moment being reveled that prior to the last Presidential this administration manipulated and suppressed information to retain it’s hold on the power of the Executive and Congressional Branches of the government shows that this group with the full backing of the media and multi-national corporations will stop at nothing to retain it’s grip on power.
It is because of all these points I have detailed that I can come to say that there is a very real possibility that a crisis of such magnitude will arise just in time for this administration to postpone or declare that no elections can be held until the situation becomes stable and order is restored.
What that crisis may be includes the following,
- A war in Iran where nuclear weapons are used.
- Massive rioting and unrest in all major cities from the use of nuclear weapons on Iran.
- A WMD terrorist attack in America similar to 9/11.
- The outbreak of a pandemic or other biological threat.
This are just a few of the justifications which might be used to postpone or call off all elections in November of 2006.
Desperate Times for Desperate Men breed Desperate Acts.
So now that I’ve laid out my reasons for why the elections of 2006 might not happen.
What are your thoughts on this subject?
I think that it is quite possible.
As you say…
Desperate Times for Desperate Men breed Desperate Acts.
We shall see…
AG
I don’t see that happening. If you work on the theory that the administration is just a tool for the PermaGov, the “higher powers” have more to lose in that situation than to gain by it.
I think the general levels of disgust and outrage are reaching nearly the levels that brought Nixon down, and the administration is playing with dynamite. While Bush might be stupid enough to light the fuse, his cabinet (as well as a lot of the military upper echelons) knows that they’re locked in a room with him and will keep him away from lighters and matches. Just like Nixon in the end.
Should I be wrong and “an event” lead them to try something stupid, I expect several states would try to secede on the grounds that the constitution is compact between the states (on behalf of their citizens) and the central government, for the purpose of safeguarding and protecting the people’s rights and freedoms. What you describe would be a seen as a “breach of contract” and we’d have a second civil war. This is the worst-case scenario for the PermaGov – very bad for business…
I think the storm isn’t over yet, but the worst of it is. This team realizes it’s the 3rd quarter, they’re behind, and the clock is not their friend – and that something like what you describe would cause a riot in the stadium. Bush himself may not know if yet, although I think it’s starting to seep in, to his great annoyance.
I think most of the people around him are savvy enough to know the alarm has gone off and they need to collect what loot they can and flee the crime scene at this point. The police arrive in November, but the robbers hear the approaching sirens – and it’s not going to put them in a frame of mind to play nicely and cooperate in an intelligent fashion, as they would to pull off a coup. It’s rapidly becoming each man for himself, which is why the vast majority of conspiracies fail – things fall apart before the plan can be brought to fruition.
Even the press is slowly rising from its slumber – and they will increasingly – because the reason they’re on board isn’t loyalty to Bush, it’s to make money – and nothing glues people to the TV and newspapers like scandal and crisis. They smell blood, they smell money, they smell the chance to come out of this as heroes rather than tools – and they’re starting to turn. Bet on it.
Keep throwing them anchors, frying pans, whatever you can lay your hand on – every bit helps. They’re going down; it just takes a bit of time. Go check out the timeline for the latter part of the Vietnam war and Watergate to see what I mean.
I hope you are right, and your comments seem very reasonable and calm, but at this point there is nothing that I would put beyond these criminals. It’s clear that they’ve been proceeding along a well thought out and pre planned course, and so far they’ve been able to predict the reaction of the American people to their manipulations. I do agree that the tide is turning…somewhat, but I also believe that another Pearl Harbor event might be just the catalyst that sets us along a nationalistic survival mindset that will be long, if even possible at all, to reverse.
You have a pre-911 attitude, Knoxville. In the words of our fearless leaders, “911 Changed Everything.” (I wouldn’t be surprised if that slogan found its way onto a dollar bill of some denomination in the not-too-distant future.)
Katrina showed the government can allow disaster to unfold and blame everything on a couple of disposable operatives, like Michael Brown.
The current state of affairs with HAVA will render most state election outcomes highly questionable if not meaningless.
What if our forces in Iraq should suffer a major reversal, like several hundred or thousand killed in one stroke by a major surprise attack by Iranian-backed and supported Shiites? All of a sudden, Rumsfeld goes and the new SecDef wants to double our forces in Iraq.
What if Iran nukes Baghdad with Soviet procured missiles?
What if gasoline goes to 7,8,9 or 10 dollars a gallon?
What if the dollar collapses overnight?
None, any, or some of these things could affect the election.
In any case, the American people, mind-controlled by the corporate media, have shown a willingness to sacrifice everything, out of fear, for the illusion of security at the hands of BushCo.
I don’t see the Republicans having any other choice, especially since their whole organization is splintering and their rating are going down the drain.
Otherwise, they may hold elections in places like Ohio and Florida, Virginia and Texas, but the voting machines will enable them to tweak the results so that, oh shucks! those lucky Republicans just won again!
Katrina showed the government can allow disaster to unfold and blame everything on a couple of disposable operatives, like Michael Brown.
Katrina, and Abu Grahib, were the turning points when Bush’s teflon began peeling in visible patches, and people started waking of from the 9-11 hypnosis.
The current state of affairs with HAVA will render most state election outcomes highly questionable if not meaningless.
They can only cheat their way to victory in a reasonably tight race – too far off from pre-election polling and they’ll be exposed. They know that. And with poll numbers as low as they are, investing in electoral fraud is a risky game at best. Safer to jump ship, and have the party blame it on Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld – and invest in a McCain or Giuliani. Check out how the Republicans are trying to “rebrand” themselves as Democrats and tell me that this operation has the credibility left to pull off a coup?
What if our forces in Iraq should suffer a major reversal… What if Iran nukes Baghdad with Soviet procured missiles? What if gasoline goes to 7,8,9 or 10 dollars a gallon? What if the dollar collapses overnight?
All of these things will further strip the current one-party government of any legitimacy and just speed up their downfall. Their mistake, in trying to have it all and denying the opposition any role in any of the branches of government, is that there is no one to take the blame but Republicans for anything bad that happens.
As far as my “having a pre-9-11 attitude,” there’s the 9-11 incident itself and then the way it has been manipulated to use fear and patriotism for a shameless power and money grab, which more and more people are waking up to daily. If you mean that I refuse to be cowered into irrationally accepting any bullshit they throw my way then I do and I’m damned proud of it.
Psychologists talk about fear of failure, but also about fear of success, and how that can also paralyze a person. With the poll numbers we see today, it’s not the time to allow ourselves to be rendered immobilized by the remote chance that there might be a coup. Our job is to continue to work to elect a congress hell-bent on impeachment and to continue to do all we can to help other recovering from Kool-Aid intoxication to see that we’re not nuts, they really are crooks and war criminals. The more we do that, the more rats will jump ship and Bush, like Nixon in his final hours, will be left alone in a darkened White House wandering the halls and muttering to the paintings as his options become fewer and fewer and fewer.
If you believe there’s a PermaGov, the task is to raise enough hell that the “powers that be” decide that this set of crooks is no longer a useful facade through which to conduct operations. Look at Frist’s incompetency in running the senate. Look at how Bush has managed to accomplish nothing at all for them in the last 6 to 9 months. If you were a rich plutocrat pulling strings behind the scenes, you’d be very, very near deciding you weren’t getting your money’s worth from this crowd.
And when they lose that support, who do they have left? The Talibaptists? That crowd has gotten it’s Supreme Court judges and are reaching the point of overplaying their hand as well – at which point the spotlight will turn on them as well, and they too will have to run for cover like so many cockroaches.
We’ve got them on the run – no time to let up now!
The public does usually rally around the President in time of danger, but this may depend on a perception that the President is competent to handle it.
But in a February 22-23, 2006 Rassmussen poll:
I’ve wondered about this for a long time about the 2008 election, but never thought about 2006.
I think the keys to this are in trying to understand what is in the mind of Cheney (???) and just how much does he control what gets fed to Bush.
We know so little of whats going on with Cheney. He could be thinking about packing it up and going somewhere to live and die with his millions of dollars. Or, he could see himself in charge of a mission. Who knows??
And as I hear about possible friction between Bush and Cheney – who knows?? If Bush is not being fed by Cheney, who is feeding him? What we do know, is that he can’t think for himself. If he is operating on his own, all bets are off and run for cover.
What’s in (or on) the mind of Cheney?
Let’s open the manhole cover:
——— ———–
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$[Using Bush like a $$$$$
$$$power screwdriver]$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$[Power grab]$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$[Time for a scotch]$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$[Who can I screw over$$$
$ today for kicks?]$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
The November elections are state elections not federal, so only the states can suspend them.
And the November elections include more than elections for federal offices such as senator or congressman. There are state, county and municipal issues on the ballots that day.
No matter what “emergency” might occur, any state, county or municipality that needs to have their election — to raise taxes, to elect officials, to do any of the myriad of things that happen that day — will have their election if at all possible. And if not possible, will reschedule it as soon as possible.
And if you can get to the polls to vote for county executive, or sheriff, or proposition 1,133 or whatever, you can get to the polls to vote for senator and congressman.
So no I don’t see a suspension of the 2006 election.
If masses of citizen anti-this-government protesters spill out into the streets, I imagine this administration WILL declare martial law. Then elections of all manner will go by the wayside. I also suspect that the “detention centers” now under construction are for dissenters, not so much for “illegals.” I would not at all be surprised that this gang of thieves will bring biological warfare on its citizens and of course blame it on Iran or whomever is convenient and may even call it “the bird Flu” when in fact it will not be. They continue to ramp up the fear factor concerning the bird flu that in all likelihood will NOT jump to the mutation they keep insisting it will.
In other words, I don’t put anything past this administration. They have already told us what they intend, I wonder why we continue to disbelieve them. They intend a permagov of RW radicals forever. Government by the Corporations, of the Corporations, and for the Corporations, forever and ever amen.
Now let me take off my tin-foil hat, it is getting a bit tight.
I hate it when you post something like this that even you think is a possiblity.
Awww Tracy, that’s just my tin-foil hat space blowing off steam. . .one of billions of possibilities. The truth is that whatever it takes, the light will overcome the darkness, and we will reclaim our country and learn how to play nicely with our neighbors and friends in the rest of the world. This is what I see more strongly than anything else. This is what I and millions of us set our intentions for daily. The highest and best outcome for all. ( just every once in a while the more human side of me gets so disgusted with what is going on here.)
There will still be bumpy roads to traverse along our way to a better more responsive and compassionate government, but do not give up hope for one minute that it will come shining through in a most miraculous way. It is so. This I know.
Take heart and keep the hope high.
Big Hugs,
Shirl
Peace and Blessings my friend
What a perfectly wonderful thing to say dada. Thank you. We’re all there together, some of us are just more vocal about it than others.
Big hugs,
Shirl
One of the reasons I posted on this subject is that in skimming across the blogoshere I’ve noticed the tendency of the blogoshere to be micro-reactionary. There is a lot of pro-active counter movements in motion but they are all fragmented and disjointed efforts which to date have been ineffective in creating a lasting impact on the typical American.
Today when I was rereading the original post I realized that it may not in fact be the result of one event but a convergence of events. Somehow I cannot foresee this administration withstanding 2 more years of the facts coming to light. For reasons I can’t explain this possibility “feels right”.
On the side here: Anybody know where the Anthrax letter attack on Washington investigation ended up?
The ship is sinking and if America isn’t careful this ship might just go down with all hands aboard.
In a word, “no.”
Why suspend what you can so easily steal?
Vote only by mail! Vote only by Mail!
An unpaid political announcement
There is more to fear from this type of paranoid thought process then from any attempt to suspend elections.
My fear: given even the current 2/3 dissatisfaction with this corrupt, incompetent party in power, they are still returned to power in 2006, thanks at least in part to the progressive left being tied to this sort of nonsense by a sharp operator like Karl Rove.
I urge all who recommended this diary to regain your normal good sense and unrecommend.
is the first causality in war.
Consider the current Wars on the burner at the moment.
North Korea: America is still at War with NPK since all that is in place is a negotiated truce.
The War on Drugs: This is a war of attrition with no foreseeable end in sight at this time. It has been used to justify the expansion and privatization of the prison system in America.
The War on Poverty: This was a war that was recently lost by the American People.
Labor Unions, pension funds and safety in the workplace and of the public all lost this war with the election of George W. Bush Jr.
The War in Afghanistan: Another un-winnable war with no end in sight: The Old USSR was handed it’s ass in Afghanistan and now it appear that the same fate will occur to the US. The Taliban warlords are in power everywhere except in the capital regions of the country.
The War in Iraq: A unjustified war fought for all the wrong reasons. Another Vietnam where all factions view the United States as the enemy of Islam. Un-winnable and with a long logistics pipeline to boot that drains the economy of the US.
The War on Terror: An absurd war where everyone, everywhere is the enemy. This includes the citizens of the United States. (Been to an airport lately?) Undefined and murky goals and objectives. Totally un-winnable since the advantage is with the terrorist attackers who can blend into a large mobile population.
This is the environment America finds itself under so please if you will “define normal and how it differs from being paranoid?”. How does a person express their concerns without asking questions that might seem improbable or outlandish? How does anyone question government “normally” when any such questions are dismissed as being “paranoid”?
America is in a State of War. There is no such thing as Normal in such a State. There is only suspicion, fear, intimidation and hate which casts a cloud over everything said or done.
So in my attempt to present a subject in an objective truthful manner such subjects never become a part of the disscussion. It the “normal” way things are done and said when a country is in a State of War.
What is wrong with letting people make up their own minds as to which diaries to recommend or not recommend?
Apparently you have a problem with a thing called Freedom of Choice.
I have no problem with you whatsoever. You are a good writer. Headed down a dead end street perhaps. I let you know clearly my take on your rant. I let you and others know my take on both your rants, very clearly detailed.
You got a problem with it? Or do you just want to have your ass kissed like so many others? Your thought process is similar to…..Bush…actually…
“it just feels right”…..as you say….thinking with your gut.
Another dead end street. But carry on my wayward son. You asked me to stay away from you and I will, happily, from this point. Good luck to you sir.
I never expect anyone to kiss my ass. The orginal diary was to broach a subject I felt might need some attention. Please note it was not a rant. It was an attempt to be as objective as possible about the subject without a lot of the “sky is falling” drama.
My thought process is vastly different from that of President Bush. However I do understand to some extent his type of thought process. I call it the “rat brain”.
My problem with you is not about what you have to say in response to the diary. The problem I have is when someone attempts to control the response of other readers who might find the diary interesting or not.
Everyone can think for themselves so why not let them?
That is all I asking you to do. Let people think for themselves and make up their own minds. Say whatever you like in response but don’t attempt to control the response or thought process of others. That in my mind crosses the line into thought control. Something that seems to be all too common place in America today.
“Thought control?”.
This was just my honest reaction with some critical analysis of your thought process thrown in to illustrate my point. Very open and direct.
Attempting to persuade others to stay above your paranoid vision is not the same as trying to “control the thoughts” of others.
Your characterization of my writing as such just further proves my point about your “thought process”
The level of paranoia on the left (and right in a different way) is detrimental to our country EVER turning itself around. You are throwing molotov cocktails into a large and growing inferno, and without giving it too much thought, either, about the long term consequences.
Elevating the general level of peoples’ paranoia during these times is not a very “progressive” use of your intellect—in my opinion.
I summed up a number of actions of this administration then I threw in the possibility that this “might” be something worth thinking about. Also you should note that I started with the qualifier statement “I know this might sound crazy but”.
It’s not paranoid when those events which I allude to all point to a total disregard for any sane actions by this administration. I suggested that 2006 election could possibly be cancelled as one possible scenario. Nowhere in the diary did I state that this is exactly what is going to happen.
This has been an interesting dialogue with you. I don’t think there is much else to add to it. It’s been fun!
Later!
You may want to peruse the one other diary posted by this person….one of his beliefs is that Social Security is a scam perpetrated by the Mob, who he insists controls the federal govt.
Hmmm….the mob doesnt even control Vegas anymore…
What I did in that piece was compare the the way SS is run now to how the mob use to do things. There is nowhere in the diary that I state that SS is run by the mob.
Please take a little more time thinking about what you are reading and don’t jump to conclusions that are not presented.
what conclusions are you presenting exactly?
The point I was attempting to make was that if you understand how SS is run there is a very striking similarity to how the Mob would run a protection racket.
IE… you give them a large chunk of money every week, they state that you are now protected with a “retirement account” or “from a disability”. When it comes time to collect your “share” you come to find out that they have spent “your contributions” on stuff that had nothing to do with your “retirement” or “disability” and will deny your claim.
You then have to hire an attorney to “get the benefits” of all the “protection money” you paid into the account. The attorney then gets a “major percentage” of any benefits you succeed in getting.
By the time your done you only get to keep the remaining amount which is nowhere near the what you initially paid for. In fact it is now only a small percentage of what you thought you were paying for. To add insult to injury they still kick you when your down since it is considered “taxable income” which returns another sum of money into the “protection account”.
The people who really make out are the lawyers and the program that is “protecting you” since they make the rules governing who gets what, when, where and how.
The rules are made so artificially complex that even the people who work everyday shuffling all the paperwork have no idea who is and who not entitled to what is covered and who gets what, when, where and how. In fact it is so bad that one departments interpretation of the rules will contradict another departments interpretation of the same rules.
During all this time they have your money to spend anyway that pleases them. Sounds like a Mob style protection racket to me.
How’s that for a conclusion?
If you are writing in a broad way to describe a certain State of Mind which may result from anxiety of living within the current conditions, then fine. You are a good writer in that regard.
I would counter that the current conditions are actually “normal” and not so much different from what have been down through history. Maybe your reaction is an allergic one, or a nervous condition brought about by too closely examining the “normal” condition of the world, which in truth has never been very good overall.
The State of War you describe is surely a description of a certain State of Mind, yours perhaps and many others of both the right and left. In fact, the US is not in a State of War and has not been since at least the Korean War (which itself was a UN backed “conflict”)
However, your loosey goosy mixing and matching of allegorical points to make a political statement depends very heavily on imprecise thinking and a lack of accuracy in the descriptions you render.
You havent really yet stated any conclusions that I can see.
For instance, your description of the social security system and its equation with a mob protection racket are both “off” from reality.
In your view, buying life insurance or starting a 401k plan might also be compared with buying protection from the “mob” who controls the insurance companies. It is not hard to equate all the worlds ills or ones personal ills with the “mob”, including the white anglo saxon protestant mob which controls congress.
Your world view seems from the post I’ve read to be one of playing the devils advocate wherein it doesn’t matter much which side of an arguement you take as long as the arguement constantly works in your favor and no one else’s.
Arguement simply for the sake of arguement is fine up until the point where a person encounters a thing I call a “hard reality” where there is no place left to go and no way out.
I’m not the world’s best writer. Therefore my writing style is what it is because I am not interested in being the world’s best writer. So what if my allegorical, loosey, goosy style doesn’t fit perfectly into your “reality”. Ask me if I really care?
You either get the point I was attempting to make or you don’t. You don’t like the way I write my diaries then don’t read them because I know for every person there is like you there are another ten people who will get it right away.
Or if you prefer that I be very blunt. Go play with someone else.
Hey, I’m crazy enough to think that these fascists staged the 9/11 attacks with the help of their Saudi buddies. I’ve been thinking it would be the 2008 elections that would be suspended but what is really scary to me is that your 2006 scenario doesn’t even seem far fetched.