A comment GW Bush made early in his presidency bothered me. Then he repeated it a few months later, and it bothered me much more. He said that politics would be easier if he were a dictator, but that he wasn't.
As the economy dipped further into the royal dungeon, I waited for the man who'd been handed the election by the US Supreme Court to do something dictator-like. Then, as Lincoln would say, the war came ... 9/11.
Bush has attacked the press, dared say it should shut up about what he's doing, tested the limits and crossed the lines of Congressional statutes, exposed secret agents, jailed journalists, and is now investigating a famous newspaper.
This strikes liberals as odd, leftists as treasonous, and even many on the right get tongue-tied trying to defend this strange man.
But all we need to do is look at our biggest ally and friend, our lieutenant in arms, as Gore Vidal called the island/aircraft carrier: The United Kingdom.
The UK is a constitutional monarchy. The Executive Branch, legally headed by the Queen, conventionally guided by the prime minister, has enormous wiggle room to do what it pleases without input from its legislator under something called the Royal Prerogative. War can be waged in the Falklands, and Parliament not consulted at all. It was eerie for a person in the US to watch members of Parliament ask Tony Blair if they'd be allowed to debate an Iraqi Misadventure.
This mini-lesson in the ancient royal prerogative explains GW's open contempt for the law in general and the press in particular. Bush believes he has magically, despite the US Constitution, inherited these divine rights of kings.
Day to day, the queen no longer exercises this ancient prerogative, but the prime minister does in her name. The Royal Prerogative extends to war powers, like Iraq. Peace terms. Treaties. Trade. Coinage. Diplomats. The prison system. Even when Parliament opens and when it closes. Which men and women comprise HER government. No law becomes a law without the queen's approval, not by signing her name but with the flourish la reine le veult.
The press has fewer liberties than it does in the US. The press can be restricted from reporting certain information.
Parliament, in case you didn't know, is to raise money for the Executive. The purse in modern days is the only pull the legislature would have on an executive with theoretical unlimited power. A decent legislature would use this pull. A cowardly one would buckle every time to whatever whim of the Executive Branch. Where a legislature was cowardly you might hope for an independent courts system to stand up to the Executive. Even in the UK, there is a measure of judicial review as far back as the 1600's
The US Congress is a coward. Ot is not just a purse. It is an independent branch. And it has allowed, from the appointment of George Bush to all its bluster and no bite over every abuse committed by his presidency.
It is no longer far-fetched that we may, at this rate, elect a man who would declare himself president for life and lay his hands on his favorite son as heir and our Congress knock each other over to support him.
One of White House counsel's infamous memos to the effect embraced the history of common law as giving the president his powers. Common Law. In case you didn't know this was a royal invention of Henry II where he sought to have law applied equitably in the kingdom by travelling from town to town and holding court to adjudicate.
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