Monday,
July 2, 2007
"If Tyranny and Oppression come to
this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."
James
Madison (1751-1836), 4th U.S. President and author of the U.S. Constitution
"When
fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carring the
cross."
Sinclair
Lewis, (It Can't Happen Here, 1935)
"Unhappy
events abroad have retaught us two simple truths about the liberty of a
democratic people. The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not
safe if the people tolerate the growth of a private power to a point where it
becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is
fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other
controlling private power."
Franklin
D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), 32nd US President
"...An empire is a despotism, and an emperor is a despot,
bound by no law or limitation but his own will; it is a stretch of tyranny
beyond absolute monarchy. For, although the will of an absolute monarch is law,
yet his edicts must be registered by parliaments. Even this formality is not
necessary in an empire."
John
Adams (1735-1826), 2nd American President
"I'm the commander in chief, see, I don't need to explain,
I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting part about
being president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something,
but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."
George W. Bush, quoted in Bob Woodward's book 'Bush at War'
It may be partly a consequence of the terrorist attacks of September
11, 2001, and the perceived rising external threat coming
from fanatical Islamists,
but it is undeniable that imperialism abroad and fascism at home are on the
rise in 21st Century America. This is amazing, because, along with totalitarian
communism, these were precisely the two most disastrous political diseases of
the 20th Century against which the United States and other democracies fought.
They led to two world wars and turned the 20th Century into the most murderous
century in the history of mankind. —Such a development is important for
the United States, but it is also of paramount importance for all the other
democracies, because if the United States, which has one of the best democratic
constitutions in the world, falls to a form of benign totalitarianism, what is
the fate of democracy elsewhere?
Before we proceed, let us define a few terms. Indeed,
what is imperialism? What is fascism? What is totalitarianism? And what is democracy?
Firstly, imperialism is the use of force in international relations outside the
realm of international law and the requirements of self-defense, with the
purpose of taking control of foreign countries, their populations and their
resources, and with the express intention of changing their cultures or systems
of government.
—The best book on imperialism
is J.A. Hobson's Imperialism:
A Study (1902).
Secondly, fascism is a
political regime that is characterized by a high degree of concentration of
power in the state, in one political party or in one person, accompanied by a
messianic and belligerent form of nationalism, by the usurpation
of legislative and judicial prerogative by the executive branch of the
government, by the suppression of individual freedoms at home, by the worshipping of national symbols such as flags, and
by a rise of militarism and the pursuit of military expansions abroad, often so
as to avenge some perceived humiliation.
—One of the
best books on fascism is
Robert O. Paxton's The Anatomy of Fascism (2004).
Thirdly, totalitarianism is a broad concept concerning the exercise
of power by one party or one person within a country through force, while being
unrestrained by laws or by rules.
—Perhaps
the best book on totalitarianism
is Hannah Arendt's The Origins of
Totalitarianism (1958).
Finally, democracy is a form of
government where the citizens’ preferences
are paramount in adopting public policies and where people elect a government
of the people, by the people and for the people. It rests on the rule of law,
the decentralization and separation of powers, and the protection of
fundamental liberties and individual rights. It is the antithesis of
imperialism, fascism and all types of totalitarianism.
— A classic analysis
of American-style democracy is
Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America
(1835).
Now, let us look at a few facts and events that have
recently taken place in the United States. When they are placed together to form
a whole, they form a powerful political and legal framework that could allow
President George W. Bush or any other politician to run the United States by
decree rather than by the will of the people.
First, there is the September 2002 Neocon imperialist doctrine adopted
by the Bush-Cheney administration that was used to launch the March 2003
illegal military invasion of Iraq. This was done according to the imperialistic "Bush Doctrine"
of pre-emptive wars1., of international
unilateralism, and of American assertive military
supremacy around the world. —According to this hubristic foreign policy
doctrine, the United States could invade any country, especially in
the Middle East, in order to
impose a local democratic government friendly to the United States and its allies.
The occupied country would then become a model to other countries which would
adopt the same type of political regime and the same policies. —We all know how this new
imperialistic doctrine has fared in Iraq and what have been its disastrous
consequences.
The 2002 'Bush Doctrine', in asserting the right for
the U.S. to invade other nations for vague reasons of social engineering,
nation building or regime change, represents a repudiation of the Nuremberg Principles and
the United Nations Charter's
ban on wars of aggression, both strongly supported by American
leaders sixty years ago. For example, the Nuremberg Charter stipulates that “To
initiate a war of aggression…is not only an international crime, it is
the supreme international crime." As for the U.N.
Charter, its Preamble says that it has been established "to save
succeeding generations from the scourge of war."
Second, in a manner somewhat reminiscent of the regime
of Adolf Hitler suspending the right of habeas corpus in Germany
on February 28, 1933, the Bush-Cheney regime also suspended the
right of habeas corpus in the United States. Indeed, on October 17, 2006,
President George W. Bush
signed into law S.3930, the Military Commissions Act,
a law that cancels the right of habeas corpus for foreigners accused of
terrorism and for both Americans and foreigners who have been designated as
“enemy combatants” by the Executive branch. Under this law, any
individual, citizen or non-citizen, can be deprived of the protection of due
process at the whim of the Executive branch, and
be imprisoned indefinitely without legal recourse. —The
United States is probably the only country in the world where the right of
habeas corpus has been suspended and yet is still being called a 'democratic'
country.
Third, the Defense Authorization Act of 2006 (H.R. 1815), passed by Congress on September 30 2006, and signed into
law by President George W. Bush on October 17,
2006, empowers the president to impose martial law in the event of a
terrorist “incident,” if he or other federal officials perceive a
shortfall of “public order”. The resort to martial law could come,
for example, as a response to a terrorist attack, but it is not excluded that
it could be imposed if some antiwar protests were to get unruly or after any
major political disturbance. Since the current Bush-Cheney administration got
away with declaring a war abroad on a pretext, what would prevent them from
imposing martial law at home also on a pretext?
Fourth, let us consider that when Congress
passed the Insurrection Act in 1807, the purpose was to severely restrict the
president’s ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, tightened these
restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the
military within the U.S. without the express permission of Congress. Indeed, its Section 1385 .(Use of Army and Air Force as posse
comitatus), as later amended, states
that "Whoever, except in
cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act
of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse
comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or
imprisoned not more than two years, or both".
These protections are all gone now.
—Indeed, the adoption of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2007 (H.R.
5122) changed the name of the key provision in the statute book from
“Insurrection Act” to “Enforcement of the Laws to Restore
Public Order Act.” —While the U.S. Insurrection Act of 1807 stated
that the president could deploy troops within the United States only “to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence,
unlawful combination, or conspiracy”, the new law allows
the president not only to declare martial law and rule by
decree, but it also gives the president the power to take charge of
United States National Guard troops without the
states’ governors’ authorization. The law also expands the list of
such permissible cases for martial law to include “natural disaster,
epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or
incident, or other condition”—and
such “condition” is not defined or limited in scope. All the
safeguards against the use of the military at home have been removed in favor
of new powers being given to the president to do so nearly at his whim.
Fifth, the National Security and Homeland Security Presidential
Directive, signed
by President George W. Bush on May 4, 2007, an event that was generally not
covered by U.S. mainstream media or discussed by the U.S. Congress, goes even further and declares that
in the event of a “catastrophic event”, the president can become
what is best described as a de facto
dictator: "The President shall lead the activities of the Federal
Government for ensuring constitutional government."
Sixth, on March 15, 2004, the National Security Agency's wire-tapping and domestic spying program, without proper judicial supervision, was authorized by
the Bush-Cheney White House, without Justice Department approval and
over the objections of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft.
This was an illegal program of domestic spying, because it violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act, which
established a panel of judges to hear wiretap requests in secret. When a
government begins to violate the law, there is no way of knowing in advance where this will lead
and how far it will go. It is an open field.
Seventh,
there is the practice of submitting detainees to
torture and
to other degrading treatments despite the clear obligation not to do so under
international law and under U.S. law. It is truly amazing that the Bush-Cheney
White House had to be reminded by the Supreme Court, in June 2006, that
it had to abide by the Geneva Conventions.
—It seems they could not figure that out by themselves.
And eighth, on
July 17, 2007, George W. Bush issued a presidential Executive Order that repeals with
the stroke of a pen the right to
dissent and to oppose the Pentagon's military agenda in Iraq.
This Executive Order entitled "Blocking Property of Certain
Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq" gives the
American President the authority to confiscate the assets of "certain
persons" who oppose the US
led war in Iraq:
"I have issued an Executive Order blocking property of
persons determined to have committed, or to pose significant risk of
committing, an act or acts of
violence that have the purpose or effect of threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of
Iraq or undermining efforts to promote
economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide
humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people."
These are eight ominous developments among the most
serious, some having gone nearly unnoticed within the United States, but which
would have the Fathers of the U.S. Constitution turning in their graves, if
they could see what has been done to their work. Technically, there is still a fair
amount of personal liberty and freedom in the United States for the average
person, but this could change at the drop of a hat, or more likely, at the
stroke of a pen. Over the last six years, the Bush-Cheney administration has
been unmistakably shifting the USA toward imperialism and toward fascism.
—This is not to deny that we live in dangerous
and taxing times, but Americans should pray that no major catastrophic event
occur under George W. Bush's watch, because all the necessary apparatus has
been set into place to suspend liberties and freedoms and impose a fascist-like
regime upon the American people when the pretext presents itself. This is a
sobering thought.
[1] -Bush’s March 20, 2003 Iraq War was a
preventive war, not a pre-emptive war, since there was no imminent military threat
coming from Iraq. However, the Bush administration, in its September 19, 2002,
so-called “Bush Doctrine” document, asserted that they were ready
to “act preemptively”, “to forestall or prevent such hostile
acts by our adversaries.” Also, when they raised the issue of the
“mushroom cloud”, they justified (wrongly, I agree) their coming
war as a pre-emptive one, not as a preventive one. So, in its official
political vocabulary, the Bush-Cheney regime has affirmed that the Iraq War was
a pre-emptive one, even if legally it was not.
________________________________________________
Rodrigue
Tremblay lives in Montreal and can be reached at rodrigue.tremblay@yahoo.com
Visit
his blog site at: www.thenewamericanempire.com/blog.
Author's
Website: www.thenewamericanempire.com/
Check
Dr. Tremblay's coming book "The Code for Global Ethics"
at: www.TheCodeForGlobalEthics.com/_______________________________
Posted,
Monday July 2, 2007, at 5:30 am
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