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What If?

I can't improve on this paragraph from the NY Times, so I wont:

"Can you imagine how it would have been perceived if a President of the United States of one party had pre-emptively taken from the female governor of another party the command and control of her forces, unless the security situation made it completely clear that she was unable to effectively execute her command authority and that lawlessness was the inevitable result?"

This article from the New York Times is titled "Political Issues Snarled Plans for Troop Aid". It doesnt jump out and say so, but those "political issues" are the very constitution that we all hold dear.

The wooden stake that the Democrats are trying to pound into “Count George’s” chest is the phrase “ Bush didn’t do enough”.

“ Bush Knew”, remember that one? Oh yeah. I do.

Or how about:

“Bush Lied- People Died”, Ah yes! There’s nothing that tells you your dealing with a truly superior intellect like when they whip a little rhyming action on you to make their point.

Now there is this new wooden stake that the Democrats are trying to pound into his chestand its made from the same timber as those other two.

“Bush didn’t do enough”.

This says that there are things that he had within his power to do that he could have done and if he had been a decent man of feeling and humanity and not a death obsessed and drooling Halliburton corporate robot he is, he would have done so.

If only.

If he had taken steps to invoke the Insurrection Act, he would have likely faced an open race riot in New Orleans and the Press and the Democrats would have willingly fed that fire. The face of the military arriving into Louisiana, not as rescuers but in a Federal takeover, in coup like fashion would have made the current headlines pale by comparison. Remember, Kanye West has already famously stood up and said that President Bush already sent troops ‘To kill us” meaning black folks in Louisiana. If President Bush had taken these extraordinary steps, the same people who are screaming today that he “didn’t do enough” would be caterwauling to the high heavens about the obvious destruction of the “bill of rights”; the overstepping of federal power and the destruction of the Constitution. President Bush would be castigated for “overstepping his authority” and would be painted in the press as if a fascist takeover of local governments and their authority had taken place.

Think about it. Think about the people who already think the Patriot Act goes too far; imagine how they would react the use of the Insurrection Act for Hurricane Disaster relief.

For those that say “The President didn’t do enough” I say, what else would you have done? I also say that most people still don’t understand just how big this disaster was. Most people think it was just New Orleans. It was not.

It wasn’t just the folks in New Orleans that were destroyed here. The damage and death goes far beyond that one city. FEMA’s largest action prior to this was for Hurricane Andrew, and that event involved 22,000 people. FEMA now has 162,000 under direct care and 400,000 effected. This is beyond anything anyone has ever had to deal with.

Everyone is calling for Michael Browns head, but unlike the New Orleans police force, FEMA has held its ground and done its job. 50% of the police force of New Orleans is still AWOL. The mayor is sending his surviving officers to Las Vegas. Yet no one calling for Michael Browns head is calling for the head of New Orleans Police Cheif Eddie Compass.

Do I think President Bush should have invoked the Insurrection Act?

No.

Just imagine what would have happend if he had. I doubt that the action would have saved a single life, but the precedent of federal takeover of state authority would effect us all for years. This isnt just a disaster, its a breakdown in the rule of law, and its the breakdown in common executive communication between Federal and State. There is no "Cockpit Resource Management" training for the President and State Governments ( but there should be...)

I do think we witnessing something that clearly shows that there are limits to what the President can do and there are limits that we will never accept removing from the President and we as a Democracy need to be very careful what we do next.

In this case, I think it shows that there are disasters, natural and man made that by their destructive nature simply remove the local authority and their infrastructure. The result is to render useless the process of executing disaster plans that are dependent on the locals who may not exist or are so overwhelmed that they are no longer effective.

I think when that type of wide area all encompassing disaster occurs, its necessary to establish a temporary “Federal Disaster District” and appoint a military governor for the duration of the disaster. This "Special Emergency District" should be established by Congress and signed off by the President. It should have both geographic and calendar boundaries, with the “end of the disaster “ clearly defined and the District returned to the states in which the district is established after the need for the district has been cleared. Inside the District, the area is administered under a modified version of martial law for the duration of the emergency.

However, its unlikely the Supreme court would agree that such a thing meets the rights of the states provisions set forth in the Constitution, and once again we find ourselves in a situation where the state itself would have to ask the Federal government to establish the "Federal Disaster District" which sounds fine, until a case arises, like Hurricane Katrine where the state is less than willing to cooperate with the Federal government.

But none of that exists today in legal structures or designs. Its extremely doubtful that you could get the speed out of congress and the executive branch to create the “Federal Disaster District” as fast as some people think that things should happen in the modern world.

Today, everyone counts on the basic fundamental idea that in an emergency, people will pull together to do the right thing. Hurricane Katrina has shown that for some people, no disaster is more important than maintaining a position of partisan power against the Bush administration.

Just imagine the opportunity for abuse of power in this whole area of law. Imagine a future President who decides they really want to go to ”War On Poverty”. You want to talk about the Kelo Decision and “eminent domain”? Lets try talking about it when we give the Federal Government the power to take over areas of the country for what they call a “disaster”.

On one hand, I'm sometimes happy that the Government is shown to be ineffective and not the all seeing all knowing god on earth that some people think it is. On the other hand, I now understand precisely why it was the President Lincoln suspended 'Habeas Corpus'.

Posted @ September 08, 2005 08:42 PM | Current Affairs

Posted by: class factotum at September 11, 2005 07:49 AM