Thinking About Politics

I'm a little surprised to find how intensely I've been watching whats been going on in the political area of late. Even given how dismayed (what a nice word) I've been by the performance of Bush and his merry crew (Constitution? We don' need no stinkin' Constitution -- we've got The Decider!), not to mention politicians in general (mostly but by no means entirely Republican; I suspect thats mostly their big-business ties overlapping the tendency to greed that long term politicians of any stripe have), I'm still watching the pack with ferocious interest -- at least, the Leaders of the Pack, plus Ron Paul (who I really like, though much of what he says strikes me as A Good Idea Taken Too Far).

What I want is a triumvirate for president, with Hillary on top (heh) and Barack and John on bottom (and Bill likely off to one side, saying 'Hmmm.....) -- Hillary for her credentials, Barack for his eloquence and plain speech, and John for his intelligence and foresight. I'm still impressed by his health care plan, enough so that I don't care about that expensive haircut. I like what all of them say, and as I mentioned a while back, I'm starting to take notes to summarize whose position is what, about some broad areas. That's the order that I'd vote for them for President, too; H, B, J.

But more than specific politicians, I find myself wondering just what the heck is going on with our governmental system so that Bush could tie it so completely up by his shenanigans. How can he, for example, get away with modifying a bill that he's signed so that its no longer what was passed by Congress -- and yet now its the law? How can he get away with deciding what he wants executive privilege to be, and it becomes a cloak of invisibility to the law for those he's chosen to shield? What can we do about this so that future Presidents, of any political stripe and persuasion, can't get away with running the government as a fiefdom?

As a general statement, I find that I'm really starting to respond to the web sites that are anti-war and anti-government, and that, in itself, shakes me up. I don't like being opposed to my own government -- but I think that what they're doing (bush, in pushing the war, ,congress, in not stopping it, and both of them for the promotion of the general attitude of 'For security reasons...' ) is wrong. I don't like that there does not appear to be any way that the president can be restrained, and I am wondering what that lack leads to, next. I don't want to want until the next election to find out about alternatives. If there are ways to put the brakes on, now, I want to know about them. It shames me that I still think 'well, let someone else do it'... but I am starting to get angry.