From the contested election results in Florida to the present, the left has focused on the ruthlessness of the Bush “junta” and seen the regime as existing in a state of imminent collapse in much the same way that their leftist predecessors expected the demise of international capitalism during the great depression. The capitalist system was restored after World War II and the Bushies are still alive and well, in spite of approval ratings. At the very least, everyone agrees that the Bush-Cheney regime will be out of power in 2008, right?

Not so fast. Most everyone thought that there was no way Bush would win in 2004. That was before John Kerry's candidacy and Karl Rove's swifties combined to steal defeat from the jaws of victory, of course.

To readers of The Nation and The New York Times, the Bushies appeared to be one investigation away from widespread public denunciation. However, in the run up to the 2004 election tales of corruption, treachery and even torture on the part of the Bush administration became overshadowed by finer points of political pageantry and the apparent unwillingness of voters to “switch horses in midstream.”

“Rocking” the Vote The story of election fraud in Ohio came out after the reelection and as a result, had no legs. The fact that the Supreme Court made Bush President in 2000 should have been an indication that this country's broken electoral system was (and is) beyond repair, but that fact was forgotten. So is it any surprise that the 2004 results were met with apathy and indifference by the public, as well? If anything, concern with the electoral system is now widely construed as a case of sour grapes. As soon as the story faded from the headlines, polls showing public concern dropped out of sight.

Think Bush-Cheney 2008!

The elimination of voting machines in primaries here in Erie County was hailed on both sides of the aisle as a budget buster. In addition, to being terribly messy, it turns out that Democracy is also really too pricey. So while our troops and their privatized security contractor “allies” are off fighting a war in a foreign country with the sole stated purpose of spreading Democracy, it strikes virtually no one as ironic that we're, at best, mothballing its very machinery here in the “heartland” of America.

Local Democrats and Republicans have agreed to cut funding to basic Board of Elections functions such as supplying operable, verifiable voting machines. In addition, they've made a pact to place responsibility for fiscal decisions in the City of Buffalo and Erie County with unelected “control board” appointees. Don't look now, folks but it's a slippery slope. If all this can happen in a region that's Democrat by a ratio of five to-one, just think of what can be accomplished in the so-called “red states.”

The vote has indeed been rocked, but it's like the current tour of the Rolling Stones – who cares?

Democrats For Dictatorship? This idea of a Bush-Cheney ticket in 2008 seems incredibly far-fetched. Most people are vaguely aware of a law limiting the Presidency of the United States to two terms in office. That law happens to be the twenty-second amendment to the Constitution which states that “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”

Again, Bush was appointed to the Presidency by the Supreme Court in the year 2000. But a strict interpretation of this amendment, which was ratified in 1951, would still appear to prohibit Bush from running in 2008. Would you think it a conspiracy theory if someone were to suggest to you that forces were afoot to repeal this amendment so that Bush could run for a third term?

H.J. Res.24 calling for an amendment to the Constitution to repeal the twenty-second amendment was put forward in the House of Representatives earlier this year. Interestingly, several of its supporters were Democrats, ostensibly fantasizing about a third term for Bill Clinton.

The twenty-second amendment was passed in part because Congress realized that despite the fact that FDR was pretty much a benevolent dictator, he was still, well, a dictator. The amendment was a move to take back some of the power that had been appropriated by the executive branch during the “long crisis” of the depression and World War II.

Fast forward to the year 2005. Democrats in Congress have ceded significant power to the executive branch through the creation of the Homeland Security political patronage system and the subsequent invasion and occupation of Iraq. The past five years have seen an all out assault on the new deal legacy of FDR.

Crisis = Opportunity

Returning the U.S. To a “gilded age” Republic for and ruled by the ultra-wealthy is not a four year project. Furthermore, it appears that eight years may not suffice either. The Bush-Cheney agenda, admittedly is in tatters. However, their ability to direct huge amounts of capital and government resources into various private entitities insures that if their regime comes to an end, it won't be due to a lack of financial wherewithal.

If a scenario allowing the Bush-Cheney administration to continue cannot be manufactured through a Democratic process, it may be that power will have to be retained through extra-constitutional means. Obviously this would require a crisis of unprecedented proportions – some situation that would make 9/11 seem like a walk in the park. In short, a coup may be necessary, if not for the selfish reason of maintaining power, then for the real possibility that it may be necessary to avoid prosecution for crimes committed by this administration.

Blood is in the water. Sharks surround the Vice President’s office. Although impeachment appears as unlikely as the possibility that Cheney will be held responsible for the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, Now Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, a close aide to Colin Powell, has accused Cheney and Rumsfeld of ignoring an order by Bush to respect the Geneva conventions with regard to treatment of prisoners in Iraq. Throwing war crimes into the mix, then, makes Bush-Cheney 2008 a matter of self-preservation in addition to one of ruthless ambition.

Proxy Party

Okay. So let's say Bush-Cheney 2008, the “emergency powers” tour bus is on the side of the road, with eighteen flat tires, a cooked transmission and no gas.

This doesn't make an orderly transition of power a foregone conclusion. Far from it. Before ordinary Americans rev up their engines over the fact that Bush will be out of power in 2008, they should consider how much damage could be done in the next three years. They should also consider the fact that Jeb, not George, could head a Bush 2008 ticket. The Bush-Cheney power structure may need to be altered to reflect political realities. Serious charges against this administration are piling up quickly, almost as fast as the profits of closely connected companies such as Halliburton.

In summary, the primary objective of the Bush-Cheney regime is to hold power by any means necessary. And what are Democrats doing? Certainly they will enjoy the spoils of the regime's plummeting approval ratings in the short term. But in truth, no one on the left seems to know how to deal with the increasingly negative consequences of the new global economy. Many Democrats in Congress, like Brian Higgins of Buffalo, continue to serve their local (largely Republican) power elites as if the war in Iraq never happened and Bill Clinton is still in office.

In reality, the Clinton presidency was merely a transaxial power-sharing interregnum. There is no reason to believe that Democrats will win the White House in 2008 by duplicating that compromise through the candidacy of Hillary or anyone else. Not when said Democratic administration would be called upon to pardon the previous administration for war crimes.

So when you think about it, Bush-Cheney 2008 might not be so crazy after all. By John McMahon

Remember the Presidential Election of 2000? One quipster referred to the Bush-Cheney campaign as “The Blues Brothers” ticket because they were, “on a mission from God and putting the band back together.”

Funny, but prophetic. In hindsight, we can see that Evangelical Christians have enjoyed unprecedented influence under the current “born again” administration. In terms of putting the band back together; there can be no doubt those soloists Karl Rove and Donald Rumsfeld have led the band to new heights.

Alas, all good things must come to an end, right?

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