[lbo-talk] Hill refines her posish on war

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 3/17/07, Jordan Hayes <jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com> wrote:
> > If you are talking about the war on civil liberties ...
>
> Actually, I'm talking about the disruption of checks and balances,
> which, if you think about it, is why the US is in Iraq today.  That is:
> the war isn't so much a distraction as it is a side-effect of a much
> larger issue: the executive believes that the ends justify the means,
> and they've taken large steps to ensure it.
>
> I think that's the point I was trying to make about this
> Feingold/Kennedy letter.  They've given up asking for Gonzoles' head
> (he'd be long gone in a Nixon administration; today he just says "no"
> ... that's what passes for 'oversight' these days?) and are just asking
> for things they shouldn't have to ask for.
>
> This expansion of power in the executive is to be feared by everyone;
> there isn't a person on this list (or in this country) who isn't
> directly affected by it.

The kind of Congress that allows the White House to do what it wants
is the very Congress many liberals and leftists campaigned and voted
for.  There are a small cranky minority who want alternatives to the
two parties that allow the centralization of power in the White House,
but liberals and leftists are the first to say they should never try
to run different candidates, for that will spoil the elections for
their Democrats.  The Congress we have is the Congress that most
liberals and leftists wanted.  They should have nothing to complain
about.
-- 
Yoshie