Democratic Conversation

Vice President Dick Cheney now thinks he’s part of the Congress, after seven years wagging his (and others’) tail as semi-head of the executive branch. One must admit, he has conviction. Now, as a comic would introduce, all we need do is get a prosecutor to try him for his crimes. Joking aside, and America needs to put aside jokes in such a case, Mr. Cheney has handled his office with about as much finesse as Joseph Goebbels did for Adolph Hitler, and perhaps with equal success, I might add. Only, lets hope there aren’t ovens being built for Cheney to deal with his detractors in a Final Solution scenario.

Political pundits like to say these days that Cheney is merely doing his best as advisor to the president, the essential role of the vice-president of the United States. However, they seem to miss the point that the essential role of the vice-president (as well as the president, the Congress, and all members of elected and appointed government) is to serve the people vis-á-vis upholding the constitution of the United States. This means, as you well know, that Mr. Cheney works not for George W. Bush, but the American people. And the American people, last time I read a poll, want a bit of candor, honesty and ethical actions from elected officials. So far, the Bush White House makes the Reagan White House look girl scouts.

How far will American’s allow themselves to be lead by incompetent criminals? Is every elected official, political appointee, or civil servant-lifer so afraid of his and her job (or power base) that we Americans on the street cannot find someone who will take action and resign under protest, make a citizens arrest, or otherwise speak loudly over the media fluff to give candor and speak truth America? Perhaps I’m asking rhetorical questions.

I honestly don’t have the time at the moment to look up the finer points of Congressional subpoenas, but surely Congress-people or their staffers do have the time. What is the problem with serving Mr. Cheney a subpoena to appear before Congress, be put under oath (under penalty of perjury, then, if he speaks lies), and answer for this latest action and all others under question stretching back nearly seven years? If the answer is “We can’t because of legal restrictions” then fine, find some other way to boil the fuk-nut in oil. However, if the answer is “We cannot embarrass the vice president in such a manner to the World At Large because that would diminish the country’s standing in the world” then we certainly do have a problem. We have a problem for three-fold reasons. One: the world now holds America in the lowest of esteem, and only such a move against a scheming, criminal member of the present government can only help our standing in the world. Two: America has tried to lead (in some distance past, if only in my dreams, perhaps) by example in areas of jurisprudence and political righteousness against such over-stepping of powers. Three: It’s time to stop these clowns who have taken over the American dialogue of what is right and wrong, and correct them in the most harsh terms, for the best reason, in order to set establish a norm for future officials in how they must conduct themselves and the business of American government for the present and the future.

We’ve all heard the phrase “Give an inch and they’ll take a mile” or some such version of the aphorism. This phrase is an aphorism because it holds a semblance of truth. To wit, when the Democrats in Washington, and fair-minded people across the country, failed to stop the Cheney and Bush tactics to circumvent constitutional and conventional law in their steamroller politics since October, 2001, there was little those two crooks needed to do to take that mile — and then take mile after mile after mile. While some people say Bush and Cheney are trying to set up a kingdom, there cannot be anything further from the truth: Bush and Cheney will leave office come March, 2009. To attempt anything of the Hitlerian variety would in fact only (and finally) encourage the populace to rise up with pitched forks and scythes, March on the White House, extract America’s leading criminals, and hang them from the nearest tree.

And that could be the least of what Bush and Cheney deserve.