Month: July 2007

<![CDATA[I think the Presidential campaign of 2008 is, at this time, completely irrelevant to the problems the nation faces. I'll worry about who should be president later, after the Constitution has been restored.
If Congress' attempt to get Harriet Meiers and Josh Bolten to talk about the U.S. attorneys dismissal fails, the President will have skirted another restraint on unbridled power. If the Supreme Court sides with the President on this issue, they should be impeached, as well.
Leaving the executive in the position to run roughshod over the Constitution and Congress would be worse for the country than any outcome of the 2008 election, because it leaves the people subject to an unchecked executive. Liberalism and conservatism have nothing to do with this “pathetic” move, as Tony Snow called it, implying this is merely a matter of partisanship. It is about making sure there is an election, that the power of the executive return to a balance with the other branches of government.
Montesquieu wrote: “…in a popular government when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can come only from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost.” A full investigation of the executive branch’s motivation in firing competent U.S. attorneys demands investigation by Congress. If thwarted, the laws will no longer be relevant, because this administration will have overwhelmed the spirit of law in favor of partisan power.]]>

<![CDATA[I was reading Seth Godin's excellent little tome, The Dip, this weekend. He makes a strong case that scarcity built on competition, which makes success harder the higher you attempt to climb in a market, is essential to perceived value. In business, I think this is true, but he also says that political campaigning is a similar social filter.
That’s what is wrong with democracy today: It focuses on the campaign, giving winning candidates the sense that they can relax and enjoy the fruits of their success after the election is over (and before the fund-raising efforts for the next campaign begin). This is why Vice President Dick Cheney can say of radical tax cuts for his supporters in the top one percent of earners that it is “our due” after winning the 2002 mid-term election.
Nothing in politics is owed to the winner. The winner of an election is just getting started on the real job of leading, coalescing support and representing the interests of all the people, including those who didn’t vote for them. We seem to have forgotten that governing is the vital element in political life, preferring the horse race of the campaign because it is easier to cover, to understand and convey in 15-second sound bites.]]>