Bush dictatorship

"The danger is not abstract or merely symbolic. Bush's abuses of presidential power are the most extensive in American history. He has launched an aggressive war ('war of choice,' in today's euphemism) on false grounds. He has presided over a system of torture and sought to legitimize it by specious definitions of the word. He has asserted a wholesale right to lock up American citizens and others indefinitely without any legal showing or the right to see a lawyer or anyone else. He has kidnapped people in foreign countries and sent them to other countries, where they were tortured. In rationalizing these and other acts, his officials have laid claim to the unlimited, uncheckable and unreviewable powers he has asserted in the wiretapping case. He has tried to drop a thick shroud of secrecy over these and other actions.

"There is a name for a system of government that wages aggressive war, deceives its citizens, violates their rights, abuses power and breaks the law, rejects judicial and legislative checks on itself, claims power without limit, tortures prisoners and acts in secret. It is dictatorship," Jonathan Schell wrote in the January 9, 2006, issue of The Nation.

According to George W. Bush

• "You don't get everything you want. A dictatorship would be a lot easier."—Texas Governor, George W. Bush, Governing Magazine, July 1998.

• "If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."—President-elect George W. Bush, CNN.com, December 18, 2000.

• "A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it."—President George W. Bush, Business Week, July 30, 2001.

• "To say 'unchecked power' basically is ascribing some kind of dictatorial position to the President, which I strongly reject."—President George W. Bush, White House Press Release, December 19, 2005.

On a dictatorial / imperial presidency

• "Paradoxically, preserving liberty may require the rule of a single leader—a dictator—willing to use those dreaded 'extraordinary measures,' which few know how, or are willing, to employ."—Michael Ledeen, White House advisor and fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, Machiavelli on Modern Leadership: Why Machiavelli’s Iron Rules Are As Timely and Important Today As Five Centuries Ago. [1]

• "This is not a monarchy. The legislative branch has oversight responsibility to make sure there is no corruption in the executive branch."—Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), December 2001. [2]

• "An imperial presidency or an imperial justice department conflicts with the democratic principles of our nation."—Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), December 2001. [3]

Websites

• "Dictator Bush," BushWatch.com.

Legislation

• H.J. Res. 64, Short Title: "Authorization for Use of Military Force," Congressional Record, House, September 14, 2001.

Articles & Commentary

2000

• Robert Lederman, "GW Bush: 'It Would Be Easier If I Was Dictator'," The Konformist, December 2000.
• Transcript: "Transition of Power: President-Elect Bush Meets With Congressional Leaders on Capitol Hill," CNN, December 18, 2000.

2001

• Sonya Ross, "'Dictatorship would be easier,' Bush jokes of his struggles," Associated Press (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), July 27, 2001.
• Douglas Valentine, "Homeland Insecurity: Phoenix, Chaos, The Enterprise, and The Politics of Terror In America," CounterPunch, November 8, 2001.

2002

• Editorial Board, "The shadow of dictatorship: Bush established secret government after September 11," WSWS, March 4, 2002.
• Patrick Martin, "Another step towards presidential dictatorship: Bush orders US citizen held indefinitely by military," WSWS, June 12, 2002.
• "The Bush Dictatorship," BuzzFlash, June 17, 2002.
• Democrats.com, "Stop the Bush Dictatorship!" MikeHersh.com, October 23, 2002.

2003

• Kaye Ross, "Nader Calls Bush 'Dictator'," San Jose Mercury News (Common Dreams), March 23, 2003.

2005

• David Swanson, "Bush Grabs for 'Dictatorship'," AlterNet, March 17, 2005: "At a MoveOn rally, Democratic senators denounce the Republican attempts to eliminate the filibuster as a 'power grab'."
• Justin Raimondo, "Bush's Wartime Dictatorship. The threat of presidential supremacism," antiwar.com, December 21, 2005.

2006

• Jonathan Schell, "The Hidden State Steps Forward," The Nation, January 9, 2006.
• Jacob Weisberg, "The Power-Madness of King George. Is Bush turning America into an elective dictatorship?" Slate, January 25, 2006.
• Soj, "Republicans Called Bush a Dictator King in 2001," Daily Kos, February 3, 2006.
• "Spies, Lies, Thugs and Torture," Revolution #35, February 19, 2006.
• Dan Froomkin, "A Compelling Story," White House Watch Blog/Washington Post, March 31, 2006.
• Kurt Nimmo, "Bush: the Decider Dictator," Another Day in the Empire, April 18, 2006.
• Kurt Nimmo, "Carl Schmitt and the Bush Dictatorship," Another Day in the Empire, April 30, 2006.
• Glenn Greenwald, "Media finally starting to report the President's systematic lawbreaking," Unclaimed Territory Blogspot, April 30, 2006.
• Jeff Jacoby, Opinion: "About Our Dictator," Boston Globe, July 5, 2006.
• soccerdad, "Bush The (Dictator) Decider," The Left Coaster, October 6, 2006.
• James Bovard, "Bush’s Signing Statement Dictatorship," Future of Freedom Foundation, October 9, 2006; LewRockwell.com, October 11, 2006.
• James Bovard, "Sins of Commission. For Bush, being tough on terror requires torture, secret prisons, and no accountability," The American Conservative, December 18, 2006.

2007

• "Bush Paves Way for Martial Law," Revolution #83, March 25, 2007.

Related SourceWatch Resources

• American concentration camps
• Bush administration: individual rights versus national security
• Bush administration misuse of government agencies controversy
• Bush administration pattern of excess
• Bush doctrine
• Bush regime
• enemy combatant
• Executive Orders
• executive privilege
• extraordinary rendition
• George W. Bush's domestic spying
• Georgeland
• global detention system
• homeland defense
• homeland security
• martial law
• Military Commissions Act of 2006
• Patriot Act

• USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005

• Posse Comitatus Act
• presidential signing statements
• The Bush Theocracy
• The case for impeachment of President George W. Bush
• The Constitution in Crisis; The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Coverups in the Iraq War, and Illegal Domestic Surveillance
• Unitary Executive Theory