Bush: President of the United
States or Dictator of the Free World
by Debbie Lewis
April 9, 2007
The office of President of the United States of
America is a powerful position, a large undertaking,
and should not be entered into lightly. This person,
when elected. is the leader of the largest free
country in the world. By the consent of the
governed, he is trusted to lead, conduct business,
and defend the rights of those he leads, the
population of the United States. This person,
therefore, should be a bright and shining example to
the world of the true spirit of our great nation. As
he is in a position of immense power, he should be
above reproach, trustworthy, honest and true to the
people who elected him to office. The President of
the United States of America should have the best
interests of the people and the nation in mind as he
goes about the duties to which he is sworn.
Our Founding Fathers, when considering what our
leader should do, laid it out for him exactly in our
Constitution. While Congress will be responsible for
making laws and the Judicial Court is responsible
for interpreting those laws, our President is
responsible for executing said laws. All past and
future Presidents, as well as our current one, upon
taking office, must affirm to:
“…faithfully execute the office of President of the
United States, and will to the best of my ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of
the United States.” (1)
The very words “defend the Constitution” come to
mind when thinking of President Bush. Never, in the
history of the United States of America, has one
elected official abused his power so flagrantly.
According to news articles written in 2006 by
Charlie Savage (2) and Ann Woolner (3), our
President has issued signing statements for over 800
laws, making it clear that he feels he “has the
power to set aside any statute passed by Congress
when it conflicts with his interpretation of the
Constitution.” All other Presidents combined have
queried approximately 600 laws. By his own signing
statements, President Bush has taken the liberty of
deciding he can ignore the very Constitution he
swore to preserve, protect, and defend.
According to the two afore mentioned articles,
President Bush has led the Congress to believe he
would adhere to the laws they approve. According to
political professor Christopher Kelley, Bush has the
lawmakers present during the signing ceremonies,
only to later file signing statements, many times
without the knowledge of Congress or the population
he serves, that basically claim he can ignore the
laws (4). Some of the reasons he feels he is above
the law are his own interpretation of the
Constitution, his position as commander-in-chief,
and at his discretion, he could decide what he feels
he should reveal to or withhold from Congress. His
heinous attitude smacks of an arrogance of one who
thinks he is a dictator, rather than an elected
official trusted to uphold Constitutional Law.
It is should be very clear that President Bush, by
using eight-hundred-plus signing statements, has
usurped the duties of the Judicial Branch of
government, and by stating the he can ignore the
laws passed by Congress, has seized its power, as
well. Former Representative Cynthia McKinney and
Current Representative John Conyers have worked
toward having President Bush impeached. McKinney
went so far as to draft Articles of Impeachment (5)
that not only implicate President Bush, but Vice
President Cheney and Secretary of State Rice, for
wrong doings and misrepresentation of the facts,
only for these articles to appear to be ignored by
the current Democratic House Majority. Nearly two
years ago, Conyers and staff wrote the report
“George W. Bush v The U. S. Constitution” (6) after
President Bush ignored repeated requests for answers
to questions about the accuracy of the Downing
Street Minutes.
“…By sacrificing human life to serve their radical
visions, by abandoning every value except the will
to power, they follow in the path of Fascism,
Nazism, and Totalitarianism and they will follow
that path all the way to where it ends…” (7)
This particular quote from a speech given by
President Bush should sends chills down the spines
of U. S. Citizens, many of whom are “Christians” and
many of whom are being asked to send their parents,
sons and daughters to fight and kill in a “war on
terror” based on a collection of lies. The human
lives being sacrificed and the will to power are,
theoretically, those of the terrorist that are
allegedly trying to grab power from the United
States. Does any red blooded U.S. citizen really
believe that a hand full of guys hijacking a few
planes, crashing them into three “landmarks,” and
killing three thousand-ish people, are really making
a grab for power in the United States of America? If
some foreign group were truly trying to make a grab
for power, wouldn’t they have continued their
assault on our precious “landmarks” until we either
had an all out war, or we surrendered to save our
country?
“I fully understand they could try and stop me…But
I’ve made my decision, and we’re going forward.” (8)
There is a grab for power going on, but the
“grabber” is not who you think. The recently
released documentary, “One Nation Under Siege (9),”
points out from where the grab for power is coming
and how the USA PATRIOT Act is helping in that
endeavor. The “grabber” is President George W. Bush.
While there seems to be growing support from U.S.
citizens and all political parties in pursuit of
exactly why we are still conducting this illegal war
on Iraq (Constitutionally, only the Congress can
declare war, which they did not), we are still
anticipating our elected officials response to the
many outcries for accountability for the atrocities
committed by the current administration. The loss of
life during this non-war is reprehensible. The
conditions our sons, daughters, and parents fighting
this war for a “civilized” nation are being asked to
face is disgraceful. What’s worse, when they do
finally get to return home, the likelihood of
rampant diseases and illnesses are most assured, as
we experienced during Gulf War I.
So, we ask the question again, where, in all this,
does the current administration’s accountability
lie? With President Bush’s
I’ll-do-what-I-want-Congress-be-damned attitude,
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel states, “…there are
ways to deal with that,” (10) implying, again, that
Bush can be impeached. The Articles of Impeachment
have been drawn up. What are our elected
representatives waiting for? The longer they wait,
the more of a dictator Bush becomes.
Eight-hundred-plus signing statements, which are
relying on his ”interpretation of the Constitution,”
are seeing to that. Will the elected representatives
of these United States stand up, take control of
this situation and get it corrected? Every one of us
has the obligation to call for action, get off the
couch and get involved. Write your representatives.
Make them aware of your desires. Hold them
accountable for their elected positions.
Endnotes:
(1)
The Constitution of the
United States of America
Article II Section 1
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