loosie: words: Clanton's Rant

Clanton's Rant

Power replaces Law: Frontier justice with G-Dub.

by Clanton McNeese | 2002.11.05

If there’s a dirty word in George W. Bush’s lexicon, it’s “lawsuit.” He gives his tight little smile and his slight shake of the head, and he tells his audiences how “frivolous lawsuits” are ruining health care and corporate progress. He thinks perhaps the evil-doers who launched attacks against the U.S. must have believed that Americans would respond with no more than “a lawsuit or two.”

Never mind that George W. Bush owes his current job to the Supreme Court. Macho men don’t trust lawyers, and they don’t have much use for the law, and our president is a macho man. Contemplate the myth of George Bush: he’s a no-nonsense Texas boy who never cottoned to the fork-tongued rascals who clog our courts and waste our time; he’s a child of the frontier, where a man’s word is his bond, and serious disagreements can be settled with a shootout.

It doesn’t seem to matter much that the whole persona is a fraud. Bush is the ultimate insider, a president’s son whose chief attribute has been his access to the rich and powerful. Neither chamber of Congress could muster a quorum if lawyers were not permitted, so Bush’s stance supports his outsider pose. He’s not an attorney; he’s an oilman and a baseball exec and one tough sumbitch M.B.A.

So what’s the big deal? Politicians are constantly reinventing themselves, and the landscape is thick with flannel-shirted millionaires riding horses and chopping firewood. My real concern is that Bush truly does not trust the law, and his administration follows his lead. His cabinet bulges with secretaries bent on undermining the very laws they are supposed to enforce. His attorney general hacks away at the Constitution. His secretary of defense cheerfully ignores international agreements.

In the place of law, Bush substitutes power. To survive in a lawless world, it is not even enough that the U.S. is now the most powerful nation on earth; it must be guaranteed that we remain so forever. It is an ugly, threatening world that Bush sees, and it is the lonely role of the bully he has chosen for America.

As we threaten unfriendly nations and disregard the counsel of friendly ones, self-interest becomes our only guide. Does anyone believe that the oppression of Iraqi citizens is an issue which truly concerns the U.S.? When it serves our purposes, this country has snuggled up to its share of dictators.

In the cause of remaining militarily omnipotent, no expenditures will be too great. The money will go to defense contractors. In the cause of remaining politically powerful, no tax cut will be too deep. The money will go to the already rich. It’s a double wipeout to the nation’s economy and a double windfall to the powerful.

Where does the government cut corners when its expenses increase and its income falls? From all those programs that make life more bearable for the poor in this country and barely liveable for the poor in other nations. So when the unfortunate of the earth turn to America’s leaders and cry for help, there’s no law that says they’ll get it, not in the world according to Bush.