Bush makes power grab (thanks, Leslie!)
President Bush, without so much as issuing a press statement, on May 9 signed a directive that granted near dictatorial powers to the office of the president in the event of a national emergency declared by the president. The “National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive,” with the dual designation of NSPD-51, as a National Security Presidential Directive, and HSPD-20, as a Homeland Security Presidential Directive, establishes under the office of president a new National Continuity Coordinator. That job, as the document describes, is to make plans for “National Essential Functions” of all federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments, as well as private sector organizations to continue functioning under the president’s directives in the event of a national emergency. The directive loosely defines “catastrophic emergency” as “any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions.”
There is little I can conceive of that’s more frightening than the awesome power of this country being concentrated under the aegis of one man- ESPECIALLY if that man is Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © . Though he and his apologists Administration will deny it to their dying breath, there does appear to be a real, covert, and undeniable movement towards consolidating power in the hands of this President. In what will no doubt be couched in the terms of fighting the (never-ending) War on Terror © , our government is gradually and inexorably less democratic and more autocratic. If you loved the USA PATRIOT Act, you’ll LOVE the National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive (NSPD-51).
Of course, I fully understand that extraordinary times may render ordinary measures and processes unworkable and obsolete. If nothing else, 9.11 provided a glimpse of that reality. The problem, though, is that when you begin messing with the rules under which the President and the federal government operate, the potential for abuse- especially given the current collection of thugs in the White House- becomes not insignificant.
From where I sit, this seems an awful lot like a page from the “in order to save democracy, we may have to kill it” school of neoConservative political thought. Yes, have a plan for Continuity of Government in the case of a catastrophic event is one the one hand only good planning. On the other hand, though, without some solid checks and balances in place what we might just have is a recipe for a (not so) benevolent monarchy. Perhaps that might sound alarmist to some, but given what has been done in our name since 9.11 (using 9.11 as justification, of course), I hardly think my fear and trepidation is misplaced.
In the end, the biggest threat to our democracy and our freedom may not come from without. It’s entirely possible, and some might say quite likely, that the threat may come from within- from a dominionist, neoConservative theocrat who believes that God speaks through him.
I love my country, but I don’t think I’m alone when I say that I HATE what’s being done to it. I’m ashamed that the President of this great nation is from Texas (apologies and profound admiration to Natalie Maines and the Dixie Chicks…they were right). We may have a history of ignorant, reactionary, and nationalistic politicians, but we’ve never turned ANYTHING or anyone like King George the Worst loose on America…and any Texan with any pride or semblance of a functional intellect would and should be ashamed.
WE DESERVE BETTER….
I feel compelled to say this as I keep reading about this on assorted blogs because it smacks of panic-mongering.
This directive merely succeeds the nearly identical directive signed by Bill Clinton in 1998, which succeeded identically worded directives from Bush I, Reagan, Carter, and so on all the way back to Dwight Eisenhower. As draconian and malicious as it sounds, every president for the last half-century has had this power.
The only significant difference this time around is that anybody actually has to worry about him USING this on a pretext. That says a lot about how bad things have gotten, but the underlying authority has been in place for a loooooong time.
I have to go with Brian's voice of reason on this one. As far as I can tell, this is just continuity planning, which every corporation and town council also does, or should do.
Also agree with Brian that realizing who would execute such plans is the current fright. Given the localized New Orleans' debacle, think about how a 2008 global bird flu epidemic would get the better of Bush. (No jokes about Polly gets a cracker, please.)