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From: Richard Kolber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Feb 17, 2006 5:29 PM
Subject: [Democrats Online] MUST READ -- Conservatives Endorse the Fuhrer Principle
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
February 17, 2006 Conservatives Endorse the Principle
Our leader über alles by Paul Craig Roberts
Last week's annual _Conservative Political Action Conference_
(http://www.cpac.org/) signaled the transformation of American conservatism into
brownshirtism. A former Justice Department official named Viet Dinh got a standing
ovation when he told the CPAC audience that the rule of law mustn't get in the
way of President Bush protecting Americans from Osama bin Laden.
Former Republican congressman Bob Barr, who led the House impeachment of
President Bill Clinton, reminded the CPAC audience that our first loyalty is to
the U.S. Constitution, not to a leader. The question, Barr said, is not one
of disloyalty to Bush, but whether America "will remain a nation subject to,
and governed by, the rule of law or the whim of men."
The CPAC audience answered that they preferred to be governed by Bush.
_According to Dana Milbank_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/10/AR2006021001799_pf.html) , a member of the CPAC audience named
Richard Sorcinelli loudly booed Barr, declaring: "I can't believe I'm in a
conservative hall listening to him say Bush is off course trying to defend the
United States." A woman in the audience told Barr that the Constitution placed
Bush above the law and above non-elected federal judges.
These statements gallop beyond the merely partisan. They express the
sentiments of brownshirtism. Our leader über alles.
Only a few years ago this same group saw Barr as a conservative hero for
obtaining Clinton's impeachment in the House. Obviously, CPAC's praise for Barr
did not derive from Barr's stand on conservative principle that a president
must be held accountable if he violates the law. In Clinton's case, Barr's
principles did not conflict with the blind emotions of the politically partisan
conservatives demanding Clinton's impeachment.
In opposing Bush's illegal behavior, Barr is simply being consistent. But
this time, Barr's principles are at odds with the emotions of the politically
partisan CPAC audience. Rushing to the defense of Bush, the CPAC audience
endorsed Viet Dinh's Fuhrer Principle over the rule of law.
Why do the media and the public allow partisan political hacks, like Viet
Dinh, to define Bush's illegal actions as a national security issue? The
purpose of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is to protect national
security. FISA creates a secret court to which the president can apply for a warrant
even after he has initiated spying. Complying with the law in no way
handicaps spying for national security purposes. The only spying handicapped by the
warrant requirement is spying for illegitimate purposes, such as spying on
political opponents.
There are only two reasons for Bush to refuse to obey the law. One is that
he is guilty of illegitimate spying for which no warrant would be issued by
the FISA court. The other is that he is using "national security" to create
unconstitutional powers for the executive.
Civil libertarian Harvey Silverglate writing in the Boston Phoenix_says_
(http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid3643.aspx) that Bush's grab for "sweeping,
unchecked power in direct violation of a statute would open a Pandora's box
of imperial possibilities." In short, it makes the president a dictator.
For years, the Republican _Federalist Society_ (http://www.fed-soc.org/) has
been agitating for concentrating more power in the executive. The members
will say that they do not favor a dictator, just a check on the "imperial
Congress" and "imperial judiciary." But they have not spelled out how the
president can be higher than law and still be accountable, or, if he is only to be
higher than some laws, but not other laws, and only in some circumstances, but
not all circumstances, who draws the line through the law and defines the
circumstances.
On Feb. 13, the American Bar Association passed a resolution belatedly
asking President Bush to stop violating the law. "We cannot allow the U.S.
Constitution and our rights to become a victim of terrorism," said bar association
president Michael Grecco.
The siren call of "national security" is all the cover Bush needs to have
the FISA law repealed, thus legally gaining the power to spy however he
chooses, the protection of political opponents be damned. However, Bush and his
Federalist Society Justice Department are not interested in having the law
repealed. Their purpose has nothing to do with national security. The point on
which the regime is insisting is that there are circumstances (undefined) in
which the president does not have to obey laws. What those circumstances and laws
are is for the regime to decide.
The Bush regime is asserting the Fuhrer Principle, and Americans are buying
it, even as Bush declares that America is at war in order to bring democracy
to the Middle East.
Find this article at:
http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=8558
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