Unfortunately, so many citizens feel this way, too. It never occurs to them that the government never gives power back. Look at the Patriot Act. It just keeps going and going and going.
It never occurs to them that when you give a president some obscene unchecked powers (and especially when you have a legislative branch that abandons their responsibility to be a check and balance and becomes a bunch of bi-partisan yes-men, you are giving that power to every president that comes afterward. Including the next Nixon. Which I guess is what we have today, when you think about it.
We like to blame "the government", but I'd blame most of our current situation on an entire population that we have failed to educate on civics and how government works. They don't even know the basics and they give up or dismiss so much, because they don't know better.
"Including the next Nixon. Which I guess is what we have today, when you think about it."
Not just "think"; my political awareness begins with Nixon's first term, and Obama "feels" a lot like him, certainly a lot more than any following president. Check around, many other of us older types have noticed this.
Just look at the analogous IRS situations, only in Nixon's days they mostly ignored his requests.
That's why I said it is what we have today. Right down to spying on dissidents and political adversaries and blackmailing and extorting them for personal, political, and economic gain.
This is correct. But your explanation is a little simplified. The people don't "give" power. In many cases, government takes it. The parliaments give the power to government -- but they are not the people. They are elected people and belong partly to the established system.
The problem that you describe can be better called: The people don't resist enough, that the system is taking the power and changing the rules so freedom is vanishing.
I see it in my country: Before election day it was clearly visible that the government is selling our freedom for good contacts to the US and they turned a blind eye to anything the US did. It was totally visible to all. But they where reelected even with a surplus. So most people just did not care enough. Some extra money or personal benefits where more important than democracy or freedom.
I am sure, that this notion in the western countries will retaliate heavily on us. I really fear, that now all the nightmares of Orwell and others could come true and humanity will sink into hell of its own devise.
Comments
Unfortunately, so many citizens feel this way, too. It never occurs to them that the government never gives power back. Look at the Patriot Act. It just keeps going and going and going.
It never occurs to them that when you give a president some obscene unchecked powers (and especially when you have a legislative branch that abandons their responsibility to be a check and balance and becomes a bunch of bi-partisan yes-men, you are giving that power to every president that comes afterward. Including the next Nixon. Which I guess is what we have today, when you think about it.
We like to blame "the government", but I'd blame most of our current situation on an entire population that we have failed to educate on civics and how government works. They don't even know the basics and they give up or dismiss so much, because they don't know better.
"Including the next Nixon. Which I guess is what we have today, when you think about it."
Not just "think"; my political awareness begins with Nixon's first term, and Obama "feels" a lot like him, certainly a lot more than any following president. Check around, many other of us older types have noticed this.
Just look at the analogous IRS situations, only in Nixon's days they mostly ignored his requests.
That's why I said it is what we have today. Right down to spying on dissidents and political adversaries and blackmailing and extorting them for personal, political, and economic gain.
This is correct. But your explanation is a little simplified. The people don't "give" power. In many cases, government takes it. The parliaments give the power to government -- but they are not the people. They are elected people and belong partly to the established system.
The problem that you describe can be better called: The people don't resist enough, that the system is taking the power and changing the rules so freedom is vanishing.
I see it in my country: Before election day it was clearly visible that the government is selling our freedom for good contacts to the US and they turned a blind eye to anything the US did. It was totally visible to all. But they where reelected even with a surplus. So most people just did not care enough. Some extra money or personal benefits where more important than democracy or freedom.
I am sure, that this notion in the western countries will retaliate heavily on us. I really fear, that now all the nightmares of Orwell and others could come true and humanity will sink into hell of its own devise.