As we all know, the overarching mission of the Bush Administration has been the continual usurpation of federal government power by the Executive branch.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2006/6/19/153634/825
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2007/5/31/202718/252
http://www.alternet.org/story/52801/?page=2
Majorie Cohn of AlterNet writes that on May 9th, Bush signed “The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive.” In this directive, Bush assigns all functions of the federal government to himself. If there were a terror attack or Rovian incident, or natural disaster…
The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government.
In other words, “fuck the Congress and the Supreme Court, I, Chimpus Maximus, will run everything. Because God says so; because I’ve done so well on everything else.”
Every thing Bush has done has been done in the name of the “unitary executive.” This idea was first propounded by John Yoo, former deputy ass’t AG.
The centralization of authority in the president alone is particularly crucial in matters of national defense, war, and foreign policy, where a unitary executive can evaluate threats, consider policy choices, and mobilize national resources with a speed and energy that is far superior to any other branch
This is simpy and straight-forwardly a call for monarchy or worse, tyranny, dressed up in right wing lawyer-ese. Not surprisingly, after this Bush started using the idea in his cowardly signing statements.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2006/6/6/164120/5736
Bush’s appointees to the Supreme Court are part of this purpose.
In a November 2000 speech to the Federalist Society, then Judge Samuel Alito said the Constitution “makes the president the head of the executive branch, but it does more than that. The president has not just some executive powers, but the executive power — the whole thing.”
Or, as the other fascist lackey on the Supreme Court, stated…
In his lone dissent in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, Justice Clarence Thomas cited “the structural advantages of a unitary Executive.” He disagreed with the Court that due process demands an American citizen held in the United States as an enemy combatant be given a meaningful opportunity to contest the factual basis for that detention before a neutral decision maker. Thomas wrote, “Congress, to be sure, has a substantial and essential role in both foreign affairs and national security. But it is crucial to recognize that judicial interference in these domains destroys the purpose of vesting primary responsibility in a unitary Executive.”
Bush aims to dissolve all federal regulatory agencies, even those created by Congress and part of that co-equal branch of government.
These “unitarians” claim that all federal agencies, even those constitutionally created by Congress, are beholden to the Chief Executive, that is, the President. This means that Bush could disband agencies like the Federal Communications Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Reserve Board, etc., if they weren’t to his liking.
Indeed, Bush signed an executive order stating that each federal agency must have a regulatory policy office run by a political appointee. Consumer advocates were concerned that this directive was aimed at weakening the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The unitary executive dogma represents audacious presidential overreaching into the constitutional province of the other two branches of government.
I will let Marjorie Cohn state the obvious.
One wonders what Bush & Co. are setting up with the new Presidential Directive. What if, heaven forbid, some sort of catastrophic event were to occur just before the 2008 election? Bush could use this directive to suspend the election. This administration has gone to great lengths to remain in Iraq. It has built huge permanent military bases and pushed to privatize Iraq’s oil. Bush and Cheney may be unwilling to relinquish power to a successor administration.
Ms Cohn uses the terms “wonders” and “may” to describe Bush and Cheney unwillingness to leave office. She’s being generous. Anyone who predicts a Karl Rove incident in 2008 to allow Bush to usurp complete federal power has a great chance to be correct. This way the Bush Administration will be bookended by two cooked up events allowing the tyrannical theft of our liberty.
