Tuesday, June 17, 2014

How The Global War On Terrorism Has Supplanted The American Bill Of Rights

Via l'Enfant de la Haute Mer in comments here, we have two versions of an excellent article by Peter van Buren, "RIP, The Bill of Rights" (at TomDispatch) and "How the ‘War on Terror’ Became a War on the Constitution" (at The Nation). Van Buren's thesis is that America has lived through two eras and into a third era of governance:
  • a monarchy when America was England's colony, 
  • a constitutional era after the American Revolution and for approximately two centuries, and 
  • a post-constitutional era beginning (as I perceive it) not later than the presidency of Ronald Reagan and coming to fruition in the presidencies of Dick Cheney, er, I mean, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. 
We may call the last era the era of the imperial presidency, or the era of the unitary executive. The first and third eras bear a striking and painful resemblance to each other: unitary rule is always arbitrary rule, no matter what you call the chief executive. The difference is how he (in America it's always been a "he"; see many European examples of a "she" as chief executive) is chosen: a kingship is an hereditary position with the initial king allegedly chosen by God; a presidency is not hereditary but rather, um, er, not really elected by the people either, unless you consider monetary units as ballot-weighting units. Once an American president or a constitutional monarch takes office, the differences are few.

Van Buren has done such a fine job of exploring the particulars of America's government and its relationship (if any) to democracy that I hardly need repeat his work... you may productively give both his versions a good read.

10 comments:

  1. Why America Can Never Win in Iraq:
    http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/06/16/why-america-can-never-win-in-iraq/

    http://inconue.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Uncle Sam Doesn’t Want You—He Already Has You
    http://www.thenation.com/article/180211/uncle-sam-doesnt-want-you-he-already-has-you#

    http://inconue.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Most Destructive Presidencies in U.S. History: George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama
    http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/06/destructive-presidencies-u-s-history-george-w-bush-barack-h-obama.html

    http://inconue.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Classification: Hiding American War from Americans
    http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/06/17/classification-hiding-american-war-from-americans/

    L'Enfant de la Haute Mer (http://inconue.wordpress.com)

    ReplyDelete
  5. From 2011: Who Won the War in Iraq? Iran.
    http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/06/18/from-2011-who-won-the-war-in-iraq-iran/

    L'Enfant de la Haute Mer (http://inconue.wordpress.com)

    ReplyDelete
  6. No Readers?
    What is going on?

    L'Enfant de la Haute Mer (http://inconue.wordpress.com)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Enfant, if you mean readers on this blog, you are THE reader these days... Bryan drops by maybe once every week or two, also BadTux, but all my other readers have gone away.

      If you mean your own blog, I visited about two days ago but didn't leave a comment. As for comments you leave here, even if Blogger has taken away your name, I still read all your comments, with great attention!

      Delete
    2. Yes Steve,
      Houston, TX, United States on 17 Jun 2014 77.
      Still, it's a pity!

      L'Enfant de la Haute Mer (http://inconue.wordpress.com)

      Delete
  7. George W. Bush’s Legacy Is Alive and Well in Iraq
    http://www.thenation.com/article/180292/george-w-bushs-legacy-alive-and-well-iraq#

    L'Enfant de la Haute Mer (http://inconue.wordpress.com)

    ReplyDelete
  8. America at War: A Record of Unparalleled Failure
    http://web2.thenation.fayze2.com/article/180175/america-war-record-unparalleled-failure#

    (keeping my own statistics)

    L'Enfant de la Haute Mer (http://inconue.wordpress.com)

    ReplyDelete

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