Cheney really wants U.S. dictator

ANDREW GREELEY

_I n the winter of 1933, before
Franklin Roosevelt's first inau-
guration on March 4, there was
a clamor in the United States
for a military dictatorship. The
banks were closing, a quarter of
Americans were unemployed, rebel-
lion threatened on the farms. Only
drastic reforms, mandated by the
president's power as commander in
chief, would save the country.
Something like the fascism of
Mussolini's Italy -- viewed benignly
by many Americans in those days
because it worked (or so everyone
said) -- would save the country from
communist revolution.
As Jonathan Alter reminds us in
The Defining Moment, his brilliant
book about FDR's first 100 days,
men as different as William Ran-
dolph Hearst, financier Bernard
Baruch, commentator Lowell
Thomas and establishment colum-
nist Walter Lipmann argued for the
necessity of dictatorship to reorgan-
ize the country's economy.
The call for a military style dicta-
torship is the ultimate temptation to
the greatest treason of a democratic
society. Fortunately for us, FDR re-
sisted the temptation and reformed
the American economy by a mix of
gradualist changes (like Social Secu-
rity) and magical "fireside chats."
Unfortunately years later he yielded
to the temptation to a military dic-
tatorship when he interned Japan-
ese Americans simply because they
were Japanese. In the first case he
resisted the demands of the Ameri-
can people. In the second he caved
in to their racist demands.
The United States is caught up in
a new campaign for a military dicta-
torship -- rule by a military chief
with absolute power. The White
House, inspired by Vice President
Dick Cheney, has argued that in
time of great danger, the president
has unlimited powers as commander
in chief. If he cites "national sec-
rity" he can do whatever he wants --
ignore Congress, disobey laws, disre-
gard the courts, override the Consti-
tution's Bill of Rights -- without be-
ing subject to any review. Separation
of powers no longer exists. The pres-
ident need not consult Congress or
the courts. Moreover the rights of
the commander in chief to act as a
___________________ Cheney is a vile, indeed
evil, influence in
American political life.

military dictator lasts as long as the
national emergency persists, indefi-
nitely that is and permanently.
Many, perhaps most Americans,
don't mind. The president is "tough
on terrorists" and that's all that
matters. What is the Bill of Rights
anyway? George W. Bush, his sup-
porters will argue, is a good man,
even a godly man. He won't misuse
the powers, even if the power he
claims is no less than Don Hugo
Chavez exercises in Venezuela
The Supreme Court in its ruling
about a Guantanamo detainee just
before Independence Day was a
sharp rebuke to Cheneyism. It dealt

with only one case and left the pres-
ident wiggle room. He could consult
with Congress about new legislation
that would provide more rights for
the detainees in a military trial. But
that violates Cheney's first principle
that the commander in chief doesn't
have to consult with anyone on mat-
ters of national security. If the pres-
ident was consistent with the
Cheney theory and the Alberto Gon-
zales memos, he should defy the Su-
preme Court and insist that he has
the right to establish whatever judi-
cial process he deems proper for
these potentially dangerous people
without any interference from any-
one. He may still do that.
Republicans who will seek re-elec-
tion in November already suggest
they will run against the court's de-
cision. The court, they will tell the
American people who want the de-
tainees to be shot at sunrise tomor-
row, is soft on terror, just like De-
mocrats in Congress. They could
probably get away with this non-
sense because fear will cause the vot-
ers to forget that this is the Republi-
can court that elected Bush.
Richard Cheney is a vile, indeed
evil, influence in American political
life. He is a very dangerous person
who would if he could destroy Amer-
ican freedom about which he and his
mentor prate hypocritically. His
long years in Washington have
caused him to lose faith in the leg-
islative and judicial processes of the
government. The country, he be-
lieves, requires a much stronger ex-
ecutive. Such concentrated power
would have been necessary even if
the World Trade Center attack had
not occurred. He uses the fear of ter-
rorists as a pretext to advance his
agenda of an all powerful president,
a military dictator. So long, of
course, as he is a Republican.