Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

Lord Actons famous quote is one of my favorites. "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." How true. This is the downfall of all forms of government. When you put someone in power as the head of the government, they believe that they are entitled to special privilege. That for some reason, the laws do not apply to them in the same way. All of a sudden, this person who we voted into office somehow now has extensive knowledge that allows him or her to know what is best for you and I. What we eat, how much we sleep, how we drive, what we put into or onto our bodies, and finally how best to protect us from those bad people "out there."

Do you honestly believe that President Bush has your best interests in mind when he orders wiretaps on you and I without getting a warrant? And don't try to tell me that he needs to be able to act quickly. The federal wiretap law that created the FISA court allows the government to order a wiretap and then ask for a warrant up to two days later. The simple fact of the matter is, our president broke federal law. The power we give our president has corrupted him. He will now stop at nothing.

I remember junior high civics class where we learned about the Russian KGB. We played a game in class where if we could accumulate 50 signatures without getting caught, we would not have to take a test on the unit. However, if we got caught, we had extra homework assigned. The teacher enlisted a few secret informers in each of his classes and none of us were successful in our quest to avoid the test.

It was an eye-opening lesson on how a repressive government controls the people. Guess what folks? America is there now. We have government agencies including the president spying on Americans citizens. We have American citizens being held in prison without due process. We have prisoners of war being tortured in foreign countries even though we signed and support the Geneva Convention.

My prediction is that this Spy-Gate mess will consume the national media for the next several months and could even result in impeachment proceedings. Do you think Dick Cheney will be president? Not a chance. The Valerie Plume investigation is still ongoing. If George goes, my bet is so will Dick.

A tipping point like this would most definitely bring about an economic collapse at least as severe as the one we experienced in the seventies, probably worse. Get your financial affairs in order, before the next shoe falls.