Chapman: "The self-emasculation of a weak Congress"

(The step to fascism in de facto eliminating the role of the legislature. First the strongman ignores it; then the legislature says to itself, "why bother to challenge him, he'll merely ignore us"; then the people say, why bother with a legislature, it never does anything except what the strongman does, anyway. Is it mere coincidence that this congress has the fewest days in session in generations?)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0603160158mar16,0,6825867.column?coll=chi-ed_opinion_columnists-utl

The self-emasculation of a weak Congress


Published March 16, 2006


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Republicans on Capitol Hill, presented with the censure resolution, practically trampled each other to prove their slobbering devotion to the president. Sen. John Warner of Virginia assailed the proposal as "the worst type of political grandstanding." Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee accused Feingold of giving hope and encouragement to Al Qaeda: "The signal that it sends, that there is in any way a lack of support for our commander in chief who is leading us with a bold vision in a way that is making our homeland safer, is wrong."

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Vice President Dick Cheney, in a speech in Chicago this week, explained the equally rigorous process that the president has to go through to renew his surveillance effort: "Before he reauthorizes the program, the intelligence community has to certify that the threats still exist and recommend that the program be renewed. The secretary of defense has to sign off on it. The attorney general of the United States ... has to certify that it is compliant with the laws and Constitution of the United States. Then the president reauthorizes the program." What a relief it is to know that the administration can't renew the program without the approval of the administration.

This is an absurd parody of the checks and balances our system is supposed to provide. If the framers of the Constitution had thought a single branch of government could police itself, they would not have created three branches.

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What the framers didn't anticipate was the rise of political parties, allegiances to which now override every other consideration. This episode makes clear that the best government is divided government--where the party that occupies the White House does not control Congress. Only then can we rely on lawmakers to provide a meaningful check on presidential power. With the GOP dominant at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, the president can treat Congress as an obsolete irrelevancy.

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He makes it clear that to call congress a lap dog of the WH administration is to insult lap dogs.

:applause:

...in order to emasculate the legislature. It's Machiavelli 101.