WSWS on Jefferson raid: Moving towards a presidential dictatorship?

[Karmadillo]

There was a time when I would have dismissed this as Chupacabraism, but these guys are so evil and the opposition against them is so weak, who knows? Look what they've gotten away with so far without so much as a censure. Another "surprise attack" by terrorists and Chris Matthews would probably be advising us to hold off on elections for a generation or two until things are calmer.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/fbi-m24.shtml

FBI stages unprecedented raid on congressman’s office
By Kate Randall
24 May 2006

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The action was an unmistakable signal to any congressmen who might be inclined to seriously investigate the myriad illegal and unconstitutional actions of the administration, and hold leading members of the administration accountable.

There were, no doubt, other political calculations as well. The choice of a Democrat as the target of the raid was not accidental, given the welter of bribery and influence-peddling scandals that have beset the Republicans in recent months.

<edit>

The Justice Department search of Jefferson’s office must be seen in the context of the frontal assault on traditional democratic procedures and constitutional safeguards being carried out by the Bush administration. This is a government that operates in secret and refuses to hold itself accountable either to Congress or to the American people.

Its methods and policies—an illegal war based on lies, the use of torture, secret prisons and kidnappings, the denial of due process and habeas corpus rights, a vast and secret program of warrantless spying on the American people, the repeated refusal to hand over documents to Congress or allow White House officials to testify in congressional investigations, the use of the military for domestic policing operations in violation of the posse comitatus act—constitute preparations for police state forms of rule that are well advanced.

<edit>

To condemn the FBI raid in no way implies political support for Jefferson or suggests he is innocent of the corruption charges. In fact, the rampant corruption in Washington, which involves both parties, with corporate money shamelessly used to buy congressmen and their votes, is itself a manifestation of the same process of political decay. Both parties are complicit in anti-democratic measures whose essential purpose is to defend the rule of a narrow financial elite that is enriching itself by driving down the living standards of the broad mass of working people.

In this case, the Bush administration used allegations of corruption as the pretext for a further assault on the constitutional principle of the separation of powers between co-equal branches of government—executive, legislative and judicial—so as to move further toward the establishment of a presidential dictatorship.

end

[paparush]

1. Here Here!! These swine will stop at nothing - Dan Rather, Plame,

Gitmo, etc..etc.. A littany of brutish intimidation and felonies.

[jimshoes]

2. Worst of all, he's doing it

in plain sight and no one's trying to stop it. At least our powder will be dry if something important comes up.