And what the fuck are you going to do about it?

Back when Kerry and Bush were running against each other, I did a little experiment. I told people that I know don't follow the news as much as I do (and therefore trust me as a news and commentary source to some extent) that Bush announced that if he loses the election, he still might step down if there is a "threat to security".

Two not so startling but very scary things happened.

First, people as a whole beleived it.

Second, people as a whole didn't have an response.

People said, "oh wow, is he allowed to do that?" and "wow. well lets hope everything is ok." or even "has that ever happened before?"

And the answer is, of course, no. For the president to refuse to step down is akin to Sulla sacking rome or Caesar crossing the Rubicon with his armies. It is, no matter what remains intact afterwords, the official and undeniable end of more than 200 years of Constitutional rule. Sure, the document might still exist and even maintain legal significance, just as the Roman senate did, but there is no denying that once a president who does not get re-elected refuses to step down, and nobody does anything to stop him, republican democracy is dead.

So today, I found a link on dailykos to an interesting passage:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the Democratic-controlled Congress not to interfere in the conduct of the Iraq war today and suggested President George W. Bush would defy troop withdrawal legislation. http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/2/25/194442/220, citing http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070225/NEWS07/70225010/0/BUSINESS01

Note - the President didn't say he would veto any legislation interfering with his mismanagement of Iraq. He said he would Defy.

The problem is, this wasn't said today. It was said way back in February.

So the president threatens to abandon the proceedures established in the constitution to check the popular will against the wisdom of our leaders and the democrats said:

nothing

the media said:

nothing

and the people never found out, or at least not on a grand scale. and from my conversations with people, i can conclude that even if they heard and even if the president rendered our democracy into a blatant sham, all they would have to say is:

NOTHING

So when Barbara Boxer says America under the Bush administration is "closest our country has come to living under a dictator" - it saddens me to say that it is not the closest it will ever come, because the lesson a would be dictator will learn from this regime is that the American people will tolerate it. The sad fact is, the Bush Administration has laid the ground work for increasing authoritarianism in this land-of-the-free, and the people are ready to accept even more (whether they like or it or not).

You know, there was one person that had an interesting response when I said Bush might not step down. She was an older person, who had seen a real fight for freedom in the fight against the Germans and saw real American prosperity in our golden age. A patriotic, moral, and law abiding person. And she said, "then its time for somebody to take him out", making a motion that made it clear that assassination was what she was referring to.

So shame on the democrats who refuse to keep impeachment on the table.