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Where were the outcries against tyranny when Dick Cheney was dismantling the Constitution?
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Segments of townhall attendees, Republican politicians and the right wing media have openly hurled the words tyranny, anti-constitution, dictator and even Nazi against President Obama and the Democrats in recent weeks surrounding the debate over healthcare reform, where was the equivalent outcry when former Vice President Dick Cheney was working so vehemently to usurp the Constitution every chance he could?
The President’s and Congress’ many proposals are slowly working their way through conference committees in both the House and the Senate. If a healthcare bill is to be passed, the legislation will have received approval at the committee level and via both chambers of the democratically elected Congress.
If Mr. Obama were a tyrant or a dictator there would be no need for the legislative process. His wishes would become the law of land regardless of the feelings of anyone else inside or outside of government.
This brings us to the illustrious record of Dick Cheney, the man who answered “so” when asked by Martha Raddatz of “ABC’s Good Morning America” about the public’s unfavorable opinion regarding the Iraq War.
Where was the Republican echo chamber when the former Vice President quite comfortably stated that he does not care what the people he represents think?
This is the same Dick Cheney who claimed that "the vice presidency is a unique office that is neither a part of the executive branch nor a part of the legislative branch and is therefore exempt from rules governing either.”
This was in response to a National Archives and Records Administration accordance ironically re-instituted by President George W. Bush as a continuation of a policy originally conceived during the Clinton Administration.
Where was the incessant name calling when Mr. Cheney decided that he alone constituted a fourth branch of government?
Where was the “tea party” protest against government waste and cozy relationships between government and business when it was reported that Cheney’s former company Halliburton overcharged the taxpayers $108 million while carrying out their no-bid contracts in Iraq?
When the Bush Administration, under the guidance of Cheney, decided to bypass the Congress and the justice system in overturning the 1978 law forbidding unauthorized wiretapping of Americans, where was the hullabaloo against the idea of big government meddling in the private lives of Americans?
I feel as strongly as anyone regarding the need to fight terrorism and defend this country. But, I promise you that situations like this are exactly why the founding fathers believed so adamantly in the idea of “checks and balances.”
In fact, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the term as “a system that allows each branch of a government to amend or veto acts of another branch so as to prevent any one branch from exerting too much power.”
How about the infamous tale of Cheney sending former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and former White House Chief of Staff Andy Card to the hospital bed of then Attorney General John Ashcroft, so Ashcroft could sign a continuation of the previously mentioned surveillance program? Ashcroft was nearly incoherent while recovering from gallbladder surgery and a bout of pancreatitis.
How ethical and respectful to the Attorney General and our system of government.
How about the time Cheney advocated deploying the US Military on US soil when apprehending terror suspects? He seemed to feel that law enforcement was not up to the challenge.
Imagine the sight of tanks and armored vehicles advancing through your neighborhood.
How many different amendments to the Constitution would this have violated? I count at least three.
The list goes on and on, but I only have so much space at which to opine.
With these numerous and well chronicled situations involving Dick Cheney, how can anyone make these baseless claims against the current administration, while still remaining silent regarding the former occupiers of the White House?
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