What's the opposite of jurisprudence?

No serene introspection today. I’m in a belligerent mood, so instead I’ll join Cyberia’s (second) most popular pastime—uninformed political commentary!

America has forgotten herself. The wellspring of her greatness has become a river of blood. Since Bush took office, military spending increased from $312 billion per year to $800 billion; a new gulag archipelago was created; corporate fraud became systemic; half of Bush’s $180 billion-per-year tax cut goes to the richest 0.1% while social programs are gutted or replaced with “faith-based alternatives.” I could go on, but I’m sure you all read the news. How did this happen?

In a sense, this is nothing new. Other presidents have been corrupt and unconstitutional. Yet we all feel that something unprecedented has happened. The Twin Towers attacks were a shock to the system, but the jihadis themselves did not create this nightmare State. The White House was prepared, and within a few weeks of the attacks, the foundation of a new America was laid. (There is no evidence that the US government was complicit in 9/11; neoconservatives are single-minded and well-organized, and they simply saw their opportunity.)

In 2000, Eisenhower’s “Military-Industrial Complex” finally gained direct control of the White House, in the form of Dick Cheney. What would a defense contractor do with the keys to the White House? Declare a permanent war with an unlimited budget, of course. But war spending is controlled by Congress, so new executive powers were needed. After 9/11, “loyal Bushies” were appointed throughout the government. The White House also created its own parallel defense department, civilian administration, and army to avoid oversight (Department of Homeland Security, Halliburton, and Blackwater/DynCorp/etc.). However, I believe this was a symptom, not a cause of America’s deterioration. The essence of the Bush revolution is legislative, starting with the 2001 Patriot Act. The corruption and abuses of power which followed are consequences of this legal blitzkrieg.

No president since Lincoln has passed such openly anti-Constitutional laws. Previous presidents have ignored Congress and the Constitution, but since 9/11, Bush has compelled Congress to make executive privilege official government policy. Nixon and Reagan broke the law—Bush rewrote it. Consider these gems: Patriot Acts 1 and 2, which give the president the power to suspend privacy rights, freedom of speech, and freedom of association; the Military Commissions Act, which abolished habeas corpus and protection from cruel and unusual punishment; the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which gives the right to wiretap and intercept e-mails anywhere at any time without oversight; the Authorization on the Use of Military Force "to take action to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States" and "to restore international peace and security"; the Defense Authorization Act, which gives the right to deploy troops within the US in the event of "natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition"; and the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, which establishes an executive committee to stop terrorism (defined as the "use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence ... in furtherance of political or social objectives") by any means necessary. This untrammeled executive power applies to “unlawful enemy combatants,” a secret list which already includes more than a million people worldwide. The majority of this new jurisprudence was originally White House memos, but many have been upheld in court.

This is not simply words on a page. The secrecy and license provided by this legislation were prerequisites for the corruption and abuses of recent years. Each new law removed another obstacle to perpetual war and perpetual Halliburton contracts. Many seem to think that Bush and Cheney achieved their designs out of sheet chutzpah, but in fact the law insulates them from consequences. Furthermore, the longer this lasts, the more the country will adjust to and reinforce these perverse rules. Until the White House memos are expunged and the aforementioned Acts are repealed—which none of the presidential candidates have proposed to do—Bush and Cheney cannot be prosecuted, and America will not return to the rule of law.

One final note—although Bush and Cheney are universally vilified, there are hundreds of others in the pre-2001 legislative and judicial branches who drafted and approved these policies. And in the final reckoning, all Americans are responsible: imperfect as it is, they still live in a democracy, and they still have the power to reverse this descent into dictatorship and barbarity.