If I had had a time machine back on January 20th, 2001, and I could have looked forward and read this mornings’ New York Times I would have been…well…I would have read the stock reports and I’d be the richest man in the world right now. But, if I had read the unsigned editorial on the state of our nation…I might have used all the money to raise a new happy band of patriots filled with Nathan Hales and Nathaniel Greenes. Because this would have just been shocking:
The Bush administration’s assault on some of the founding principles of American democracy marches onward despite the Democratic victory in the 2006 elections. The new Democratic majorities in Congress can block the sort of noxious measures that the Republican majority rubber-stamped. But preventing new assaults on civil liberties is not nearly enough.
Five years of presidential overreaching and Congressional collaboration continue to exact a high toll in human lives, America’s global reputation and the architecture of democracy. Brutality toward prisoners, and the denial of their human rights, have been institutionalized; unlawful spying on Americans continues; and the courts are being closed to legal challenges of these practices.
Fascism creeps along at a snail’s pace, it doesn’t come in one swift blow. I am now conditioned enough by the last five years that I am not shocked to read this from the staid New York Times editorial board. I find that more frightening than anything else. Impeach.
