Will The Dems End Bushism Or Extend It?

There's a great post by Glenn Greenwald today, which takes an in-depth look the Bush administration's over-zealous use of "State Secrets Privilege" in order to defuse lawsuits which could reflect badly upon them before the case even begins. It has just been invoked in an attempt to strangle a lawsuit against AT&T for aiding and abetting the government in spying upon American citizens. I urge you to read the whole thing, take your time, and contemplate whether you are happy with ANY administration, either Republican or Democrat, that would run your country this way.

One of the truly bone-chilling parts of the discussion is the way in which Bush penned an Executive Order giving Presidents and their descendants hereditary rights to determine what should be kept secret:

In November 2001 President Bush issued executive order 13233 that would permit former presidents to independently assert the state secrets privilege to bar disclosure of records generated during their tenure.

More than that, the Bush order would make the state secrets privilege hereditary, like some divine right of kings, enabling the heirs of deceased presidents to assert the privilege after their death.

"This is a power heretofore unrecognized either in courts or politics," Weaver and Pallitto observe.

If that doesn't sound like the America you thought you were living in then I am not at all surprised. I hope you are angry about it, too.

However, don't go putting your trust in Democrats to change matters. I will remind you that it was Clinton who asked the UK to use their end of Echelon to spy on Americans for him - thus neatly sidestepping FISA in an utterly callous, immoral but technically legal way.

One of Glenn's commenters puts my own problems with the Democrats succinctly, in what is probably the best blog comment so far this year:

There are two basic theories as to why the Democrats have failed to become an opposition and instead stood idly by or been complicit in the Republicans' running amok. The first, call it the 'no clue, no plan, no guts' theory is pretty obvious. This explanation says that they are in denial or are somehow unable to perceive the serious political jeopardy they and the country are in and/or they have no idea what to do about it and/or lack the courage to try. They just hunker down in their foxholes and hope it all goes away.

The second theory, call it 'too clever by half' says that they are perfectly aware of the extreme power grab, but believe there will be a heavy political price to pay for dismantling all the checks and balances in the system. They are also aware that as expert as Republicans are at marketing, they are incompetent at governing. Their idea of making policy is to invite lobbyists in to write bills for them which they stamp into law, or dancing a jig every time quasi-religious extremists snap their fingers. This will please a small number of people, but eventually cause so much pain for the vast majority that no amount of marketing will be able to make up for it. At that point Republicans will be swept from power for another few decades (or however long it takes collective memories to fade), with Democrats inheriting all the unchecked power the Republicans paid the price for grabbing.

So you have your choice. Either Democrats are unable stop the harm Bush and his party are doing to the nation and the world, or they are willing to let it happen for their own political benefit. I find myself hoping for the stupid and gutless explanation, but neither is very encouraging. We should also remember that what is unprecedented about the Bush administration is not direction and nature of U.S. foreign policy nor the tendency to accumulate power, but only the extremes to which both have been taken. This is not something that simply switching parties will fix. Change can and will happen if the public demands it, but that is only possible if people are made aware of the problems and know what to demand. That is why the rise of blogs and the success of books like Glenn's are so important. These ideas must be brought into the light and made part of the public discourse. The right wing monologue and conservative monopoly on values and ideas must end.

So here's the big question folks.

Suppose the Dems take control of both Congress and White House by 2008...do you think they will remedy the worst excesses of Bushism or simply extend them?