As any political science student doing his or her homework in a course on the U.S. government should be able to tell you, if for any reason George W. Bush vacates the office of Presidency before his term is finished, Vice President Dick Cheney will become President. Should Dick Cheney vacate the same thereafter, the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will become President.
In times long gone, and in places far away, there used to occur events called ‘palace coups’. Palace coups may now be taken as signs of lack of good taste in the ruling circles, especially among those nations calling themselves civilized; but as a species, our social life has not traveled far from such dreary acts.
In these imperial times, the state has acquired an absolutely elevated separation from the civil society. Such conditions are conducive to individual (or gang) egos finding it easier to achieve larger Machiavellian gains, through bold initiative; or lack thereof. People who live in the palace are aware of the double-edgedness of the Machiavellian deal, so they closely follow the maxim: better have your back covered.
Whence, I think, the fear factor. Nancy Pelosi’s back is not covered by anybody that can come to her rescue when she’s going to need it badly if she proceeds with the impeachment of the president and the vice president.
Any meaningful impeachment effort must include both George Bush and Dick Cheney. Activists in the impeachment movement are almost unanimous on this. And Nancy ‘In-the-Palace’ Pelosi knows this, too. Which means, in turn, that she knows in case of a successful impeachment, she will become the first woman President of the U.S.A.
Now, you’re probably very likely to scream out loud: “Then, what the f**k is she waiting for?! Is she NUTS not impeaching that little twerp, and that chain-freak?!”
Consider this though: maybe she is very wise and knows that the U.S. government is in full imperial mode, with all sorts of potential coups just crawling all over the back halls and corridors.
“But … How long will my Presidency last,” Pelosi wonders. Maybe she knows too well too that certain interests have a real stranglehold on the U.S. government and they will stop at nothing. Who will cover her back?
Maybe she foresees a scenario in which those interests, the same day as she is sworn in, and as quickly as a flash, maybe even during the swearing-in ceremony (why waste time?) assassinate her in cold blood and toast to their success the very same evening.
Now, let’s see, who’s next in the line of succession? President pro tempore of the Senate, which in plain English means, Robert Byrd. Now, come on! Robert Byrd the President? The power-that-be thinks not!
Who’s next? Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Well, looky here! Black and a woman? And a ‘realist’ to boot; as in, on a 180-degree political grading, a few degrees to the left of openly fascist? Forget about it!
My guess is they will keep going down the line of succession list until they come to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates or, even better, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
So, you see, Nancy Pelosi is not only afraid for her own life, she must be sincerely fearful for the life of the Palace. After all, how bad would it look for the Palace (from the outside) if the President of the empire was a non-white who openly defends torture and the suspension of the oldest civil liberty in the western law book, the Habeas corpus?
Speaking of which, it is worth pausing on this for more than a moment. The only other cases of the suspension of the Habeas corpus in the history of the U.S. occurred during the Civil War. Not during either of the World Wars, nor during the invasion of Vietnam. And what’s interesting is that during the Civil War, both governments in the north and the south suspended the Habeas corpus. After the Civil War, the Supreme Court voted the suspensions as unconstitutional. So, the only other time this most basic of legal rights was suspended was during a civil war, in the course of which hundreds of thousands of North Americans were slaughtered by each other.
So, maybe we should be more than paranoid, and justly wonder out loud: Is the U.S. government really preparing for a civil war? Maybe Nancy Pelosi is genuinely right, after all, when saying she and her colleagues have tons more things to be worried about than the impeachment of a lower plant life and what chains it.
If impeachment proceedings do not have a strategic aim of establishing real people’s control over the U.S. government, it will just be yet another sideshow in the shenanigans presented to the legal citizens of the empire in lieu of a circus, and will not constitute what really needs to take place.
U.S. citizens need to make sure possible impeachment proceedings give birth to institutionalized (as in, encoded into law) reforms of the state structures, guaranteeing real controls by the citizens over their government and state. Such efforts can take place even after the Bush regime has vacated power. Who says a former administration cannot be tried for crimes against humanity? This has happened in Chile and Peru. Why not in the U.S.A?
The point is to think strategically while acting tactically. People in the impeachment movement should not lose focus or hope simply because some legal functionary, such as Pelosi, is not carrying out her duties. A determined people’s movement can push unwilling law makers and provide backing for legislators willing to rock the boat and smash the gates of the palace.