Time to regroup

This month of August takes its name from a man, Octavian, who elevated himself above all other mortals when he took the title Caesar Augustus, and systematically distorted, redefined, or eviscerated centuries-old Roman Republican institutions. Combining the most powerful patrician and plebeian office-holding authority in his one person, Augustus never eliminated the Senate, he merely transformed that venerable body from a group of stern wielders of power to a silly cluster of snobbish sycophants.

Dick Cheney is no Augustus, nor even a Richard Nixon. George W. Bush has even less cunning. Yet even the most comically inept individual can develop an insatiable greed for unlimited power. We needn't worry that our Commander and Thief's criminal cohort will corrupt the other branches of our federal government with their subtle and ingenious wiles. No, they will continue to grasp for power in a remarkably clumsy fashion, and their despotism won't be at all enlightened.

What is critically important for us to bear in mind is that these clowns are not concerned with impressing voters in the U.S., leaders of foreign nations, or anyone at all. Unrestrained by traditional deference to public opinion, will they show any more respect for the results of an election? Will they ratchet up the fearmongering to the point where "the need for stability" will lead them to dispense with elections altogether? Congress needs to listen to their constituents well during this August recess.

Americans are very unhappy with this administration and its criminal contempt for our democratic institutions. They are unhappy with Congress for not smacking down the crooks and liars in the White House with more speed and force. Nobody, except a tiny right-wing minority, will interpret impeachment as mere partisan payback for the Republican's harassment of Bill Clinton. On the contrary, Americans grow more fearful of a police-state future every day that passes without seeing these tin-horn dictators brought to justice.