General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe progression of the need for autocracy for Republican presidents.
So, it begins with Nixon. He's the first one who laid it out plainly in his interview with David Frost:
"Frost asked Nixon whether the president could do something illegal in certain situations such as against antiwar groups and others if he decides "it's in the best interests of the nation or something". Nixon replied: "Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal", by definition
But back in the early 70s, the country still had the same concept for integrity, as well as the expectation of a president whose honesty was beyond reproach. So Nixon stepped down before the system could proceed and establish firm, legal rulings.
How naive of us to believe that questionable business ethics or military might-over-right concepts were qualities that we never wanted to see in a president that could represent all of us. How naive of us to believe that all presidents would want to represent all of us.
In 2000, when the Supreme Court helped seat a president, there had been a definite shift. Maybe it was the first wake-up call for some that something had definitely changed in this country. George Bush II never had to face consequences for the wrong-minded decisions he made in his two terms in office because the storm of conscience that helped Nixon step down, no longer existed. And Bush knew that there was a circle of protection creating a barrier for him. In 2008, he stated it when he said, Ill be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.
And then we have Trump. He is so corrupt that history will always wonder what people like us were doing to stop him. In retrospect, they will probably be right in assessing that it took us too long to realize the danger. If we're lucky some will say that we fought using the very process that Republicans were trying to undermine. But at this stage of the war game, we at least can see all the pieces on the table and we understand that the progression that began with Nixon is full in our faces.
"Trump said that presidents must have full immunity to avoid indictments being filed against them by the opposing party. The protections of immunity, he added, should extend even to events that 'cross the line. '"
That's exactly the position that Nixon was trying to promote. And I'm sorry to say that only our side seems to hold the line when it comes to expecting integrity and adherence to the Constitution from our presidents. The rest of the country is too caught up in Machiavelli desires to put the end before the means to realize what they have to destroy in order to reach the endgame.
hot2na
(358 posts)If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator.
William769
(55,148 posts)Thank you.
machoneman
(4,016 posts)...in the White House? Visit his Presidential library?
Hell no! Bury his sorry ass at one of his golf clubs and make the marker look like a toilet so one can shit on him! Yeah, that's the ticket!
Escurumbele
(3,407 posts)That is what has happened in places like Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, etc. Democracies, for the most part, became very corrupt, and we can see this happening in the USA with the republican party who have always worked to favour the very rich while abandoning the middle and lower classes. People become tired of having to work 2+ jobs everyday and still not having enough to send their kids to good schools, pay the bills, buy a home, take vacations with the family, enjoy leisure time while watching the government give more to millionaires who are able to do everything the middle and poor classes cannot do.
Opportunities to move ahead and realize the "American Dream" which has become nothing but a dream (as George Carlin explained it very well) are gone, then people's frustrations begin to feel that Democracy and Capitalism is a sham, that the only purpose for it is to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, which in fact is what it is when corrupt people are in charge of government, so now people start thinking that maybe there is a better way, if the current one is not helping then lets go for the other. The worst of it all is that many of those people start thinking "if it doesn't work and it doesn't help me, maybe it will affect the rich the same as me, and they will be disposed of many of their riches and start suffering like the rest of us", which in fact does happen in dictatorships, all it takes is for the dictator to dislike a comment by one of those multi-millionaires and suddenly all their businesses and possessions are taken finding themselves and their families either in jail, some dead or migrating to another country.
No one is safe under a dictatorship, and I know because I know a lot of people who have gone through that in countries in South America, many of them had to live running because of persecution from the regime, their beautiful homes were taken, and everything they had they left behind. Just take a trip to Miami and you will meet doctors, engineers, people coming from high education serving you at the restaurant you have chosen to eat at.
People do not know what they are asking for, and like the saying goes "Be Careful What You Wish For."