Failing the System = Indictments and a Failed Presidency
ILLUSTRATED: The Founders' system will prevail over the arrogrant people currently in charge of Washington
“The rule of law not the rule of men*” is the mantra of most civilized countries. People are flawed. One of LBJ’s former aides said that the presidency is a microscope to view someone’s character. Scandals and gaffes are simply the magnification of errors of extremely powerful people. The checks and balances are put in not only to save the system from men, but to save men from themselves. Rove, Frist, Delay, Libby et al are victims of their own arrogance. But arrogance, as the Founding Fathers knew, is only human.
The Founding Fathers were very wise when they set up our tripartite, multi-level system of government. So was Harry Truman when he set up the National Security complex and the postwar international institutions. They understood one thing: If laws are to reign over people, then institutions must be in place that are greater than us flawed souls.
The ideologues running the Congress since 1995, and the whole thing since 2001, have a vision of America and the world that they want to effectuate with all of their power. Historians, political scientists, and management theorists will look back on this time as a disgrace to the legacies of the leaders who built the winning American system.
In your car, when you merge onto a clogged freeway, each lane usually lets in one car alternatively. This is even though the lane in the freeway has the right of way. You yield because it’s good for the system.
The GOP in power right now does not yield. Thus, they are failing our soldiers, our school children, our finances, our ecology, and our access to justice. And that’s only a partial list. Worst of all, these politicians are failing themselves. Sure I took some pleasure as a Democrat watching these indictments, but I am an American first, and I am embarrassed to see these senior officials prosecuted.
BOTTOM LINE: In 2006, we need to explain to our friends and neighbors, that we need a Democratic Congress for the sake of our system. The balance is good for a healthy system of government, and that will put American back on track.
*(“men” of course is a gender neutral term here)
“The rule of law not the rule of men*” is the mantra of most civilized countries. People are flawed. One of LBJ’s former aides said that the presidency is a microscope to view someone’s character. Scandals and gaffes are simply the magnification of errors of extremely powerful people. The checks and balances are put in not only to save the system from men, but to save men from themselves. Rove, Frist, Delay, Libby et al are victims of their own arrogance. But arrogance, as the Founding Fathers knew, is only human.
The Founding Fathers were very wise when they set up our tripartite, multi-level system of government. So was Harry Truman when he set up the National Security complex and the postwar international institutions. They understood one thing: If laws are to reign over people, then institutions must be in place that are greater than us flawed souls.
The ideologues running the Congress since 1995, and the whole thing since 2001, have a vision of America and the world that they want to effectuate with all of their power. Historians, political scientists, and management theorists will look back on this time as a disgrace to the legacies of the leaders who built the winning American system.
In your car, when you merge onto a clogged freeway, each lane usually lets in one car alternatively. This is even though the lane in the freeway has the right of way. You yield because it’s good for the system.
The GOP in power right now does not yield. Thus, they are failing our soldiers, our school children, our finances, our ecology, and our access to justice. And that’s only a partial list. Worst of all, these politicians are failing themselves. Sure I took some pleasure as a Democrat watching these indictments, but I am an American first, and I am embarrassed to see these senior officials prosecuted.
BOTTOM LINE: In 2006, we need to explain to our friends and neighbors, that we need a Democratic Congress for the sake of our system. The balance is good for a healthy system of government, and that will put American back on track.
*(“men” of course is a gender neutral term here)
posted by Teka Thomas at 10:05 PM
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