A Coming Obama Dictatorship?

Georgian Republican Congressman Paul Broun is warning that America may face the possibility of an Obama dictatorship based on Obama's call for greater national service(1).

According to Rep. Broun, when Obama said, "We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set, we've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded." Obama was calling for a Hitleresque national security force.

Broun also worries that this national security force, combined with potentially more restrictive gun laws, will lead us down the path of an American style Marxist or Fascist dictatorship.

However, you may not be surprised to know that individuals like Rep. Broun have made nary a peep versus the numerous constitutional abuses of our current Republican president.

According to Project Vote Smart, his public statements all follow the same theme(2). While he talks about protecting the Constitution, he seems to base his version of that document on a few narrow principles. Unfettered gun rights, severe limitation on all gay and abortion rights, and that all legislation must "fit within the constraints of what God gives us in His inherent word."(3).

Unfortunately for individuals like Rep. Broun, they've made their own bed based on their apathy towards several of President Bush's more egregious abuses of our Constitution.

Some examples include an expansion of the principle of executive privilege(4). Despite what Republican congressmen and their supporters might think, Congress does have a constitutional role in oversight of the executive branch, its departments, and its actions. This is referred to as a check and balance, a concept that has been greatly reduced over the last eight years.

Another abuse relates to the warrantless wiretapping program, in addition to the retroactive immunity granted to companies that colluded with the Bush administration in carrying out surveillance of US Citizens without a court warrant, as required by the fourth amendment.

A broad definition of "enemy combatants" which could potentially include US citizens who pose a political threat to the government is another unfortunate outcome of the last eight years. However, republican legislators had granted the President and his delegates the power to classify any individual, US citizen or not, an enemy combatant and send them to some extra-territorial jurisdiction (such as Guantanamo Bay) where the courts have no effect. Fortunately, the Supreme Court has struck down this argument and now citizens accused of crimes against the government must be tried in civilian courts(5).

Extra-territorial actions such as Guantanamo Bay and extraordinary rendition are also further abuses of our Constitution that further eradicate our standing in the world and erode our civil liberties(6)(7). In both cases, republican legislators have stood by without a peep or worse, defended the power of the president to carry out these actions without any sort of oversight or accountability whatsoever.

These are a few small examples of several of the Bush's abuses of his constitutional power over the last eight years. If Obama chooses to take advantage of the precedent set by the republicans and their supporters, they have only themselves to blame. There have been those independent and moderate republicans who have warned the far right not to vest too much power in the executive lest a Democrat win the White House.

In short, if Obama morphs into a dictatorial monster, it will be a monster of the right's creation as they gave him all the tools he needed finally to bring a dictatorship to America. The more important question we must ask ourselves is what precedents Obama will overturn, which he will keep, and how much of the precedents established by Bush and company he will actually exploit.

History has shown that we do not worry about abuse of power when it's our guy that does it, so as a result, I don't expect many of the Bush critics on the left to oppose Obama should he choose to move that direction.

However, with the right-wing so discredited (as a result of their own actions and overreaching), and with most Americans unconcerned and unaware of what the Constitution means, the field is potentially wide open for Obama to establish this Marxist-Fascist dictatorship that the remaining republicans are so afraid of. Unfortunately, we have the republicans and their supporters over the last several years to thank for this possibility as they sat aside while Bush laid the original groundwork.

I, however, do not expect Obama to become our next American dictator. Nevertheless, if he does, unlike those who I stood with in criticizing Bush and his republican enablers, I will also do my best to call out Obama on his abuses and hold him accountable. Constitutional abuse knows no party and constant vigilance is the price of freedom.