It's Time to Hold Democratic House Leaders in Contempt-Naomi Wolf

[Ichingcarpenter]

Enough is enough .......By Naomi Wolf


Like many of us, after having watched helplessly as the Bush administration trampled the Constitution and made a mockery of checks and balances over the course of five bitter years, I was hopeful when the American people elected a Democratic Congress in November of 2006. Finally, I imagined, we would have a whiff of legality and the hint of a restoration of the rule of law in the land. Perhaps we would even have congressional committees to oversee the administration's subversions of the rule of law and investigate the wide range of abuses that it had perpetrated since 2001.

There has been a bit of movement -- which is why the thousands of Americans I have met who are appalled at these abuses but feel powerless to raise their voices effectively should take heart, but not stop their fight. To some extent, these raised voices have yielded some action: Congress has in fact held numerous hearings on issues -- ranging from torture to warrantless wiretapping -- that had been taboo to contend with when the administration was heedlessly, and unopposed, using a hyped narrative of `the global war on terror' to subdue American liberties. Most prominently, we got some of the bad guys out of town. Citizen-driven congressional investigations into the politicization of the Department of Justice, for example, spurred the resignations of many key Bush administration officials, including the mild-mannered gatekeeper of the first bolgia of Hell, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

And yet, where it counts most, Democratic leaders in Congress have completely abdicated their constitutional oversight role. What they are doing now reprises the worst failures of other self-paralyzed Parliaments in societies that were facing crackdowns on civil liberties and the rule of law, and their voluntary self-emasculation may go down in history as one of those turning points at which leaders cave shamefully to transformative pressure that leaves a country far less than its founded ideal. Through their actions, they are potentially causing irreparable harm to the institution of Congress itself.
....snip


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/its-time-to-hold-democra_b_83322.html

[bemildred]

1. I do, I have for some time now.

:thumbsup:

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. I have since the FISA vote in August

When I knew I had been bamboozled
by the Democratic leadership.

[burythehatchet]

3. YES YES YES I LOVE YOU, NAOMI!

[NoFederales]

4. enough IS enough nt

NoFederales

[Time for change]

5. Absolutely

I'm very glad to hear it said.

What do you have to say for yourself, Congress?

[mzmolly]

6. !

:kick:

[tom_paine]

7. K & R for one of the true patriots left in this country

Naomi Wolf: American Patriot

:patriot:

[HCE SuiGeneris]

8. Highly recommend.

[FlyingSquirrel]

9. The only thing that is necessary for the triumph of evil....

Is for good men and women to do nothing.

(That's assuming that the members of Congress are, by and large, good. Which may be assuming a lot.)

[AntiFascist]

10. K&R n/t

[Karenina]

11. . .

[Bravo Zulu]

12. enough said!

[fasttense]

13. It seems that upholding the Constitution is just another political casualty.

Congress and the White House are putting protecting the hated republican pResident above protecting the Constitution. If the republicans get away with this, what other crimes might republicans get away with?

Stealing the election in 2008 (as they did in 2000 and 2004) comes to mind.

[Joe Chi Minh]

14. But you've got to admit Speaker Pelosi's gesture politics hit awesome new heights

with that photo op of her surrounded by her grandchildren on the Chamber podium. Wasn't that worth any number of Constitutions!

[mwb970]

15. What's the point of an opposition if they don't oppose?

I am appalled by the failure of the Dems in Congress to stand up to this little nothing of a "man" and give us back our country! Is that really so hard for them to understand?