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Aware that this does not constitute a prima facie article, I non the less found the topic such that it deserved more attention than it would get if it ended up on a diary page alone.
Be sure that if this does not make it through the article review and get published, it will remain here and be referenced to in future articles I will write.
The pressing and important topic that makes me take my chances, is a recent Congressional Hearing in the US House of Representatives.
While this might seem quite unexciting, I assure you it is not for anyone paying close attention and taking into consideration the core issues of the crimes and wrongdoings the current Bush administration is accused of for which it has fallen to an unprecedented low in public opinion.
In my article The Silent Coup, I wrote about the efforts of Presidential Power expansion and the success of these advancements to place more reins of power in the hands of the presidency – taking them away from the Judicial and Legislative Branch and thereby taking them away from the people’s representative power, accountability and oversight.
I described how it had been the intent to achieve this subtle change in the legal and political framework of government in USA without ever being found to have violated any statue or part of the Constitution.
To achieve this would take a brave, risky and creative interpretation of the Constitution that would, if they got away with it, give the camp working for increased solitary presidency and executive power crucial precedents that all future proceedings in courts, Congress and the Executive branch would be all but obliged to follow.
They only had to get away with one gradual push of the constitutional limits to have recreated the official interpretation of those limits once and for all. Repeating this over and over again would eventually lead to a complete overhaul after which the constitution no longer would mean what it was intended to, nor give the protection from power abuse it was made to afford.
The particular House Hearing pressing me to write this, goes to and exposes the very heart of this conflict, and all that during the first ten minutes of it.
The official topic of the hearing is an agreement drafted by the Bush administration to be agreed upon by the Iraqi government, that may or may not commit USA to apply military resources to the defense of Iraq from internal and external threats on what seems indefinite terms.
Any such commitments require the involvement of the US Congress, as it represents the people whose resources are being committed.
There has been no such Congressional involvement, as the Congress did not know about the agreement until it was leaked to the press.
As stated during the course of the hearing:
"Under U.S. domestic law, authority for the President to use force ― “authority to fight” ― in Iraq must come either from the Constitution or the Congress. The Agreement with Iraq, which apparently will be entered into as a sole executive agreement, therefore could not serve as a source of such authority..."
Professor Michael Glennon, former Counsel of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
"This is not just about the relations between the US and Iraq. This is about the constitution"
Honorable Bill Delahunt, Hearing on Declaration and Principles: Future U.S. Commitments to Iraq
Herein lies the matter of Constitutional Interpretation, and just how much is at stake becomes clear if one listens to the first exchange in the hearing between the chairman and the representative of the administration’s point of view, Mr David Satterfield.
The fervor with which the chairmen pressed for clarity of the administration’s interpretation of the Constitution, and the equally determined refusal to ever give any clue to it, will provide three crucial insights:
- This is the greatest issue in US politics today
- The outcome of this battle will determine the actual power of the people versus it’s government
- Support for the validity of my theory of a concerted and strategic effort to alter the interpretation of law – and primarily the constitution – in such a way as to deprive the people of power to the benefit of an unregulated and unaccountable executive branch led as a unitary executive under an equally unregulated and unaccountable president
Of all these points I care the most for the second. We must all get engaged NOW, because time is running out for every decision made and precedent set that erodes the very core of what protects the power and freedom of the US people.
Go and watch the hearing at the C-Span video archive (http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=204290-1 )
If it is of assistance, read my article The Silent Coup.
Not for my sake, but to arm you with awareness of the context of this immediate danger to our security and freedom.
With great hope, and undying trust in the rebel yell within us all
