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we all need to look at, for where we here at DU and others can become active and helpful in the effort to restore the "balance of power" in our government, which is so gravely out of whack. We can have the fight between the capitalists and the proletarians later. I'm up for it. But this--and restoring transparent elections--is vital to all other political struggles we are, or might want to be, engaged in.
The writers lay out very clearly what they think is going to happen, and a broad plan of action in response...
"Notwithstanding administration delays and diversions, Congressional access to administration documents is likely to become a serious power struggle quite rapidly after the opening of the new Congress. A plausible scenario looks something like this:
A Congressional committee will request information.
"The administration will stonewall.
"The committee will issue a subpoena.
"Amidst a sea of justifications and vilifications, the administration will fail or refuse to produce documents.
"The committee will pass a contempt citation.
"The Senate or House will pass a contempt citation.
"The contempt citation will be referred to the Justice Department.
"The Justice Department will fail or refuse to bring contempt charges.
"At that point Congress will have several options:
"It can make angry noises while in actuality accepting administration intransigence.
"It can pass legislation establishing a special prosecutor. It can appeal to the courts by suing the administration.
"It can establish a select committee or otherwise threaten impeachment against whatever officials it decides to hold accountable, from the president and vice-president through cabinet members and other top officials.
" What choice Congress makes will depend largely on public perception of and response to the situation. For example, in the Watergate scandal, public outrage at the "Saturday Night Massacre" tipped the balance toward Congressional impeachment hearings. On the other hand, public disapproval of the attempt to impeach President Clinton actually contributed to a Democratic victory at the next elections.
"Constitutionalists and progressives need to start planning proactively to prepare the public to respond appropriately and effectively to this impending confrontation.
"First, that requires an ongoing interpretation to people of what is happening and what it means.
"Second, it involves defining venues for action in which large numbers of people can participate. Representative John Conyers's mobilization of popular support for demanding information about the Downing Street memos represents on a small scale what will need to be done on a larger scale.
"Third, it requires creating some kind of infrastructure or rapid-response network with the capacity to support such a mobilization.
" Fourth, it calls for a broad coalition that reaches far beyond progressives to include conservatives committed to the rule of law and a broad public concerned about the abuse of presidential power and the preservation of democracy. Such a coalition already exists in nascent form, for example in the Constitution Project, which has brought together such improbable allies as Al Gore and Bob Barr to articulate concern about the Bush administration's abuse of presidential power.
" The power and willingness of Congress to affect Bush's Iraq policies depends on using the vulnerability of the administration and its Republican supporters to severe loss of effective power, criminal investigation, and/or impeachment. That vulnerability is likely to be greatest, in turn, where the administration can be shown to engage in Nixonian abuse of government power to suppress information in its own interest.
"A defeat of the Bush administration on the right of Congress and the public to know what the government is doing can be the starting point of a broader effort to establish institutional and cultural vehicles for controlling executive power - in short, for a transition to democracy."
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The authors...
Jeremy Brecher is a historian whose books include Strike!, Globalization from Below , and, co-edited with Brendan Smith and Jill Cutler, In the Name of Democracy: American War Crimes in Iraq and Beyond (Metropolitan/Holt). He has received five regional Emmy Awards for his documentary film work. He is a co-founder of WarCrimesWatch.org.
Brendan Smith is a legal analyst whose books include Globalization From Below and, with Brendan Smith and Jill Cutler, In the Name of Democracy: American War Crimes in Iraq and Beyond. He is current co-director of Global Labor Strategies and UCLA Law School's Globalization and Labor Standards Project, and has worked previously for Congressman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and a broad range of unions and grassroots groups. His commentary has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, CBS News.com, YahooNews and the Baltimore Sun. Contact him at smithb28@gmail.com.
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