- President Bush passes himself off as
a conservative Republican and a born-again Christian. These are disguises
behind which Bush hides. Would a Christian invade another country on false
pretenses, kill tens of thousands of innocent civilians, and show no remorse
or inclination to cease the aggression?
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- Long-time Republican policy-wonk Bruce
Bartlett recently published a book, Impostor, in which he proves that President
Bush is no economic conservative, having broken all records in spending
taxpayers' money and running up public debt.
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- Were Bush merely another big spender,
his presidency wouldn't differ from other pork barrel administrations,
but Bush's radicalism goes far beyond spending. Bush supports outsourcing
American jobs, and he has taken an irreverent approach to the U.S. Constitution.
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- Bush bears no resemblance to a political
conservative. A political conservative does not confuse government with
country. Patriotism means loyalty to country. Bush, however, demands allegiance
to his government: "You are with us or against us!" Critics of
the Bush administration are branded "unpatriotic" and even "treasonous."
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- Loyalty to country means allegiance to
the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the separation of powers. It does
not mean blind support for a president, an administration, or a political
party.
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- The separation of powers and civil liberties
that were bequeathed to us by the Founding Fathers are the protectors of
our liberty. Bush, who swore on the Bible that he would defend and uphold
the Constitution, has made it clear that he will not let the Constitution
get in the way of expanding the powers of his office.
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- Bush has over-ridden a number of protections
in the Bill of Rights. The right to assemble and to demonstrate has been
infringed. The Secret Service now routinely removes protesters from the
scene of Bush political events. Many unthinking Americans go along with
this authoritarianism because they don't agree with the protesters, but
once the right is lost, everyone loses it.
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- Bush has ignored habeas corpus and claims
the unconstitutional power to arrest and detain people indefinitely without
a warrant and without presenting charges to a judge. This is the most dangerous
abuse of all, because whoever is in office can use this power against political
opponents. Many unthinking Americans are not concerned, because they think
this power will be used only against terrorists. However, as the Bush administration
has admitted, many of its detainees are not terrorists. Most are innocent
people kidnapped by tribal leaders and sold to the U.S. for the bounties
paid for "terrorists."
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- Bush has refused to obey statutory law,
specifically the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Bush claims
that as commander-in-chief he has the right to ignore the law and to spy
on Americans without a warrant. Many unthinking Americans are unconcerned,
saying that as they are doing nothing wrong they have nothing to fear.
This attitude misses the point in a large way. If a president can establish
himself above one law, he can establish himself above all laws. There is
no line drawn through the law that divides the laws between the ones the
president must obey and the ones he need not obey.
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- FISA does not interfere with government
spying for national security purposes. Secrecy is protected, because the
court of federal judges that issues the warrants is secret. Moreover the
law allows the government to spy first and then come to the court for a
warrant. The purpose of the warrant is to be sure that the government is
spying for legitimate purposes and not abusing the power to spy on political
opponents for nefarious purposes.
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- When presidents sign a bill passed by
Congress that they think might be interpreted in ways that could impinge
on the powers of their office, they add a "signing statement"
to protect traditional presidential powers. Under Bush this practice has
exploded. Bush has used signing statements considerably in excess of all
previous presidents combined. Moreover, Bush uses the statements not to
protect president powers, but to nullify acts of Congress, such as Republican
Senator John McCain's law against torture. Bush is using signing statements
to turn the presidency into a dictatorship in which the executive is not
accountable to laws passed by Congress. The next step is simply to announce
that the executive is not accountable to elections either.
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- Bush's government is the first in our
history in which there are no dissenting voices and no debate. Uniformity
of opinion is more characteristic of a dictatorial government than a conservative
one. Bush's government is all of one mind, because all important positions
are held by neoconservatives.
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- Neoconservative is a deceptive term.
It means "new conservatives," but there is nothing conservative
about neocons. Neoconservatives believe in imposing their agenda on other
countries--the antithesis of American conservatism.
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- In short, real conservatives believe
in conserving the Constitution, government accountability, and civil liberties,
and avoiding foreign entanglements. Judging by its behavior and its statements,
the Bush administration stands completely outside the conservative tradition.
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- Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary
of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of
the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National
Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached
at: paulcraigroberts@yahoo.com
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