Either the 2008 elections produce a massive realignment or else we need a new American Revolution, that Jefferson warned us we might need every generation. -- macgupta

I am really curious about statements along these lines.

What would ever lead you to believe there could possibly be a "massive realignment?" How is that even possible given the election choices we are presented with and the completely corrupt and corporative system we are operating in?

What does "massive alignment" mean to you? What are you envisioning when you say that? Who would bring about this massive realignment? What would it look like? Is it just a matter of overwhelming Democratic control of government? Is that what you consider to be massive realignment? If so, how could that possibly ever be considered a massive realignment?

Are you suggesting it is possible that Obama and the Democratic congressional leadership are not really what they appear to be... not what say they are? Not what they have proven over and over again that they are? They are keeping there powder dry? What fundamental (massive changes) would occur as a result of Democrats holding the reins of power?

I guess I am asking all of this because I truly cannot understand how anyone could possibly believe, given the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that simply electing more or "more and better" Democrats = "massive realignment."

I see this type of thinking as completely divorced from reality, either spawned by ignorance or willful stupidity. It is so maddening to me, that when I see it or hear it, it makes me want to set my hair on fire and jump off the nearest cliff.

At this point, a return to an ordinary standard of legality and Consitutional strictures would be a "massive realignment"

And I can hardly see how calling for these things can be "completely divorced from reality, either spawned by ignorance or willful stupidity."

You might try reading Glenn Greenwalds column to gain a better understanding of these issues. A lot of people really like it.

You might try reading Glenn Greenwalds column to gain a better understanding of these issues. A lot of people really like it.

Have to agree there, but the comments section really sucks.

"I'm starting to wonder if I should get the Italian passport I'm entitled to..."

I would get going on that NOW, my friend. You are very fortunate. After a cursory check, I've discovered that it's extremely difficult (if not impossible) for most Americans to qualify for emigration to other, more civilized countries (they all seem to allow only wealthy young people with graduate degrees). Even Canada is out of reach.

All but a few of us are, for all intents & purposes, trapped in a nation which is fast sliding into chaos & fascism. Most of us are well nigh fukked.

I'd recommend both. The word on the street is that Bush will be firebombing our last remaining gas refineries, blaming it on terrorists, declaring martial law and forcing repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act. Shortly thereafter, elections will be suspended, all media nationalized, the Supreme Court will be dissolved and reconstituted, and Congress disbanded.....

Why not? That's what all his 'friends' are doing.....

"Regime change starts at home."

Cheers,

Warren Burger, ruling on Richard Nixon’s claim that all of his problems, including Watergate, were no more than a dispute within the Executive Branch of government to be decided by the President alone, stated that while there were indeed executive privileges of secrecy that were implicit in the President’s power to govern: ‘Here the claim of privilege rests simply on the generalized, undifferentiated claim of a need to keep all Presidential communications private and confidential…yet the Constitutional need for production of relevant evidence in a criminal proceeding is specific and central to the fair adjudication of a particular criminal case in the administration of justice.’ Fiat justitia, ruat coelum’, ‘Let justice be done, though the heavens fall’ was what the Roman lawmakers said. Two weeks after Burger’s ruling Nixon was gone.

How ironic that Bush now claims not only the right that Nixon claimed but also the right to spy on American citizens for whom there is to be no protection of their ‘private and confidential’communications. Nixon should have been jailed, justice was not done and now his party is shameless in its pursuit of absolute power. Nixon was fired to prove that ‘no man is above the law’, according to Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworksi. Well, that didn’t work, did it? Because Bush and Cheney and a cast of thousands are still above the law and they know it. Jaworski also said that the case against Nixon would shape what young America would think or say or do in the system for all of the next generation. Unless young people believed in America’s institutions the system simply would not work. He was right about that, but the judiciary blinked and justice was not seen to be done. Nixon was spectacularly corrupt and so is Bush but the difference now is that the system is truly broken and there’s no electorally neutral mechanism for holding Bush and his administration accountable for their actions. Which explains their arrogance and their blatant criminality. It's not hard to work out who the FISA laws are actually aimed at: anyone who can be seen as an enemy of the right. Imagine how easy it will be to destroy your political enemies if you can legally tap their phones and read their emails.

On the White House tape for June 23rd 1972, Nixon is heard directing the CIA to halt an FBI investigation which would be detrimental to his re-election campaign. It’s called obstructing justice and Bush and Cheney are infinitely guiltier of it than Nixon ever was. Bush’s entire term has been an obstruction of justice, because justice would expose his crimes and bring him down. Fred Buzhardt, Special Counsel in charge of Nixon’s tapes, had written the President’s public statement of 22nd May 1973 denying that the CIA had ever been used for domestic purposes. Listening to the June 23rd tape, Buzhardt knew what he had written was a lie and professed himself scandalized. What Cheney and Bush are proposing is to use the CIA for domestic purposes day in, day out. The FISA laws have the Secret State's grubby fingerprints all over them. Like Guantanamo Bay and Abu Grahib. The articles of Impeachment against Nixon were threefold: Article I – Obstruction of Justice, Article II –Abuse of Power, Article III – Defiance of Committee Supoenas. Who could possibly claim that Bush, Cheney and many others in his Administration are not guilty of most or all of these? So while Bush does his farewell European tour like an ageing opera star the Congress fails in its duty. The stink of corruption can be smelt from one side of the world to the other but the tragedy is that the Democrats in Congress are probably right: to become embroiled in Impeachment now or to vote against the FISA laws could certainly cost them the General Election in November. The Republican foot soldiers in the media would have their guts for garters,screaming 'Liberal plot' and 'soft on terror' at every opportunity. This would leave McCain in the White House and all hope for change gone. Such is the state of the American democracy that Bush wants to impose on the rest of the world, by military force and with the help of people like Chimp Number Two, Sarkozy. Where are the people marching in the streets demanding Bush and Cheney resign or that they should be impeached? It was really the young who threw Nixon out and they are more or less passive on Bush and Cheney while the better educated among them have pinned all their hopes on Obama, purely because he's seen as an outsider. Which probably proves Jaworski's point on belief in America's institutions.