Colony Collapse Disorder: this is the name given to the dying off of
the world's bees, which spells an impending global crisis. It's not
that I want to make light of this diagnosis. Quite the reverse; it's
that the name could just as easily be applied to the state of the
nation. Though Democracy Collapse Disorder is what comes to mind.

When historians look back to examine the origins of this latter
disorder, it will be determined that it began in 2000, compliments of
the U.S. Supreme Court when its intervention resulted in the ascension
of George W. Bush to the presidency of the United States.

Lacking the tradition of contesting government, the opposition meekly
accepted the results. Yet, by governing from the middle, the highly
contested presidential election might have simply resulted in an
asterisk next to the president's name. Instead, he began to govern as
if he had received an overwhelming mandate from both, the electorate
and God, helping to usher in the most greedy, corrupt, anti-science,
secretive and unaccountable administration in the nation's history.
Under the guise of Christianity, POTUS or the President Of The United
States single-handedly helped to usher back in The Dark Ages.

Just as plans for the Iraq invasion were in place long before, 9-11,
the designs for Democracy Collapse Disorder were also in place, long
before the president's installation. Yet, President Bush, a blue-blood
son of a former president, was not an innocent bystander; to carry out
the neoconservative agenda of world dominance simply required the
notion of a unitary executive in which all power resides in POTUS.
Given 9-11, the attack gave him an opportunity to accelerate that
agenda, which included the de-Constitutionalization of the United
States..

The seven primary components of Democracy Collapse Disorder include
assertions by the president that he has the right to:

1) wage preemptive permanent war against any potential enemy, while
coddling tyrannical blood-thirsty dictators who support the U.S.
agenda of world domination.
2) declare that the United States is in fact in a permanent state of
worldwide war against "Islamo-fascism."
3) disregard the rights of anyone, including the right to secretly
detain anyone indefinitely, without due process and without the right
to legal representation, including the right to torture.
4) disregard any law, create any law, or interpret any law to his
favor, to be able to operate outside of the U.S. Constitution, while
also asserting the right to interpret his illegal actions as lawful.
5) operate outside of the Constitution during this time of permanent
war, without being subject to any checks and balances.
6) operate outside of international law and in disregard of
international treaties and conventions.
7) pardon, grant amnesty and grant retroactive immunity to anyone
under his control who violates the Constitution or any international
law.

If these were but theoretical assertions of power, that would be
dangerous enough. But this president has actually carried out his
assertions and aside from engaging the United States in a disastrous
illegal war and occupation, he has also been wrong about everything.
Wrong in a moral sense. Wrong in a legal sense. And wrong in a
strategic sense.

Enter the Democratic Party and the 2006 elections: its leaders are
given an overwhelming mandate to stop this runaway president who has
been plundering the public treasury to wage his illegal war. Yet,
their first order of business is to grant him and his war cabinet
unconditional amnesty and retroactive immunity.

That is the definition of Democracy Collapse Disorder.

If Congress had an alternate and effective plan to actually terminate
the illegal occupation of Iraq, that would be one thing, but worse
than being impotent, the refusal to hold the president accountable has
emboldened him to continue his criminal endeavors worldwide, including
threatening to wage yet another unsanctioned war against Iran.

To its credit, Congress has at least now taken a firm stand in support
of "the rule of law." Joining the likes of Lou Dobbs and Rep. Tom
Tancredo, who represent the lunatic and fanatical wing of the
political spectrum, Congress has taken a firm stand against amnesty,
that is, no amnesty for Mexicans. No amnesty for brown
Spanish-speaking dishwashers and maids. At least they are consistent.
There will also be no amnesty for those in the U.S. government whose
lies have caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands in Iraq. Similar
to Scooter Libby, instead they will be granted immunity, pardons and
commutations.

That too is Democracy Collapse Disorder. It also sounds like the
definition of insanity.

(c) Column of the Americas 2007