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Truth and reconciliation are all well and good, but without some forceful repudiation of the crimes for which Bush/Cheney are responsible, then the premise that we are a nation of laws is revealed to be myth. If Bush & Co. can utterly ignore domestic law, treaties, and the Constitution, flout the most basic principles which the peoples of all civilized nations hold dear, and leave office unrebuked, then our Constitution is a collection of worthless ink splotches on parchment—the Chief Executive’s own personal Rorschach test to be interpreted as he sees fit. It’s not enough for the next president to change course and follow the Law. A pernicious precedent has been set. If we allow it to stand than our laws become subject to the whim of the president to follow, modify or ignore. And who’s to say that some future occupant of the White House will not decide that term limits are optional? or perhaps even elections? This isn’t really about Bush—it’s about nothing less than the preservation of our Democracy. Those of us who believe it’s worth defending must demand that the poison of lawlessness be purged with the emetic of Justice. As Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson wrote: “Men have discovered no technique for long preserving free government except that the executive be under the law.” It’s time to place the executive back under that restraint—and reconciliation alone will not succeed in accomplishing this feat.
