The OURUS*: Interregnum Or Fait Accompli?

by- Mentarch … 18:11 EDT

(Updated below) (Update II) (Update III) (Update IV)

(*: Office of the Unitary Regency of the U.S.A.)

Regent Cheney: going away or here to stay?

In my previous two articles, I elaborated on the now-established fact that Dick. B. Cheney installed himself as a Regent on January 2001, effectively creating the constitutionally unlawful Office of the Unitary Regency of the U.S.A. – complete with its Puppet Presidency.

Truth be told, it was after 9-11 that Cheney effectively made his move to firmly cement his Regency – driven by his intractable belief in Executive Supremacy. In other words, Cheney seized the opportunity that presented itself with the tragic events of September 11, 2001, in the same manner as he did when then-candidate Bush approached him for the vetting of running mates.

In this respect, Regent Cheney certainly fooled many of us (myself included, I must admit) into thinking that it was his Puppet President who represented a threat to the Constitutional Republic of the U.S. throughout all these years, when in fact he constituted the threat all along.

A stealthy, calculating Master Puppeteer indeed.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Including, of course, present-time – or current – history.

Hence the question which I now pose to you, good folks: is the OURUS an interregnum or a fait accompli?

Let us explore the possibilities, shall we?

Pros and cons that the OURUS is an interregnum:
It goes without saying that the OURUS is an unlawful and unconstitutional aberration – consequently, it must be removed somehow, thus rendering it a mere interregnum along the historical line of constitutional continuity. As I am writing this entry, the Congress is still debating an amendment to restrict the $4.75 million budget for the Vice President’s Office that is being held “constitutionally” by Cheney – thus seeking to effectively defund him. In principle, such a move would indeed go a long way in putting the Regent in constitutional check-mate – however, Cheney’s alleged/potential access to monies marked for “vague items” (e.g. “black ops”) or through other more dubious monetary sources would allow him to continue on, unimpeded.

There is of course the way of impeachment – which I happen to consider as being the perfectly constitutional and competent way to not only establish once and for all that Cheney’s Regency is unlawful, but to effectively remove him from power. On the one hand, not impeaching Cheney would increase the bar of minimal requirements for impeachment so high, no one will ever be impeached. The same result will happen if representatives and the People simply “wait out” the rest of the Bush-Cheney term – or if criminal charges are actually brought up (the proceedings themselves, along with the usual stalling tactics, stonewalling and various legal delays, would certainly take quite a long time, no?). On the other hand, not impeaching Cheney will represent the ultimate expression of lack of democratic courage, principles and responsibilities. Unfortunately, too many (lame) excuses are being floated against impeachment. Furthermore, supporters/defenders of the Regent, both inside and outside the Congress, are advancing further reasons/arguments against impeachment – or even defunding, accountability or investigation, for that matter. Although momentum continues to increase on the side of those who are driving for impeachment, it remains to be seen if the Public and its Representatives have the patience, courage and determination to see this through.

Last, but not least, there is talk of the possibility that the Regent would simply abdicate (read: resign). There sure have been calls for it enough (three of many instances here, here and here). But really – who can force him into abdication? Certainly not his Puppet President, as some hope. Others have advanced the idea that GOP House members may put pressure on Cheney to resign. However, this is not only quite hypocritical of them, considering that many among them have aided and abetted him for so long, but we can guess what his answer might be …

Pros and Cons that the OURUS is a fait accompli:
The only way that the OURUS might become a fait accompli would be through the use of a willfully mendacious military intervention in order to cement its rule once and for all. Indeed, the tools are already available: the Catastrophic Emergency Presidential Directive, in conjunction with the Patriot Act and the Military Commission’s Act (as well as the gutting of the Posse Comitatus Act), could be used as the means to install the Cheney Regency as a bona fides dictatorship. Simply invoking Martial Law would do the trick – and do not count on SCOTUS, which he shaped, to actually rule against him. Would Regent Cheney go through this? Consider his love for Executive Supremacy, as well as his overtly displayed disdain for accountability and any restrains put on his cherished Unitary Executive beliefs (like the War Powers Act, as an example). Likewise, let us not forget that he was the Mastermind behind the policies of habeas corpus suspension, torture, indefinite detention and illegal eavesdropping. Hence, such a catastrophic and tragic outcome remains possible.

Conversely, it is a well known fact that Regent Cheney’s health is not one of his strong assets. Hence, why would he bother going through a (predictably not bloodless) coup, when he’s not likely to reign for more than, say, ten years? Well, History shows us that there are always others more than willing and able to succeed despots and grab power for themselves. I would not be surprised if anyone among the Regent’s men (past and/or present) would have no qualms at taking his place in holding the Office of the Unitary Regency of the U.S.A. – these people have shown themselves quite adept at formulating rationalizations (or duplicitous lies) to justify their actions – however mendacious – in the past. Such is the lot of incompetent human beings.

In closing – current History remains to unfold the conclusion of this saga, therefore eventually establishing whether the OURUS was an unconstitutionally aberrant interregnum or a pre-despotic regime-to-be. I am somewhat wishing that Regent Cheney will see the light and abdicate. Barring this, I fervently hope that he will be impeached – either way would preserve the Republic and the Constitution for which it stands.

In the meantime, it would do well for the citizens of the Republic to ask themselves this crucial question: why did we ever allow the election of a weak-minded and -willed candidate as President, along with a strong-minded and -willed candidate as Vice-President?

For I believe that such an instance not only constituted a first in the History of the U.S.A., but also caused – and facilitated – the ascension of the OURUS.

Let us hope that the lesson has been learned once and for all, and that it will not turn out to be a bloody one at that, eh?

Update: 06/28/2007 – Some folks are wondering whether America needs a Vice-President or not – but that is a wrong question to ask, just like this one. In any case, the obvious solution to prevent the ascension of another OURUS in the future is to amend the U.S. Constitution in order to clearly define the roles and limitations of the OVP, and voilà – problem solved (but that would require competence, i.e. patience, courage and determination, to do so). In the meantime, more people are waking up and rightly calling for the impeachment of Regent Cheney – that is good. However, the question can be asked: is there enough backbone out there to see this through? Meanwhile, here’s more on how the Regent’s SCOTUS has been gutting the U.S. Constitution – looks like authoritarianism is on the agenda, here … no? I thought so …

Update II: 06/29/2007 – Looks like I was right in characterizing Regent Cheney as a cold, calculating, authoritarian Master Puppeteer – case in point: this personal account. It also shows his Sixth Principle of Incompetence-driven primitive mind. On a related note: here is how I suspect Regent Cheney gets (at least part of) his monies to fund his OURUS and those secret ops at his behest (see above). With regards to the trashing of the U.S. Constitution by Puppet Bush and Regent Cheney, some are asking: “What went wrong? (…) Shouldn’t this trigger some corrective mechanism? Shouldn’t something be happening to reverse this? Why isn’t SOMEbody doing someTHING? “. I’ve already written the answers to these questions here. In the meantime, more are pondering on the possibility that GOP House Representatives might go to Bush and demand the removal of Cheney – I say: not-gonna-happen (see above). As much as I wish for the impeachment of Regent Cheney to occur, it looks like the process is going to take too much time. Even if Congress plays hardball – especially since it looks increasingly evident that SCOTUS is indeed subservient to Regent Cheney. Consequently, it may be too late already – provided that Regent Cheney indeed exits the White House “gracefully”, once January 2009 comes. Nonetheless, if impeachment does not happen, I’m afraid the U.S.A. will suffer the consequences of such infamy for decades and decades to come (see above). And last, but not least, a ray of hope by way of The Newshoggers: Theodore C. Sorensen, former speechwriter for JFK, wrote a hypothetical acceptance speech for the Democratic Party’s nominee for President. Simply beautiful (and not to toot my own horn, but I was pleasantly surprised to recognize many of the themes I have been harping on about here, such as democratic lazyness, incompetence, denial/gutting of Kyoto, qualities of genuine leaders, politics of ignorance, fear and lies, the intellectual sloth-driven MSM, etc., etc., etc.). Now, if only … (sigh).

Update III: 06/30/2007 – One more voice for the impeachment of Regent Cheney. It is to be hoped that a snowball’s effect will be occuring soon enough, even if it may be too late already (see above). But come what may, it will be important for those who will have voiced, on the record, their support for impeachment – this could play a serious role, come the 2008 elections …

Update IV: 06/30/2007 – By way of Politics Plus: here is a clear-cut example of intellectual sloth-driven non-thinking and lack of democratic courage about what it takes to impeach someone. The damage has been done indeed – most tragically enough. It would seem that Regent Cheney and his Puppet President will get away scott-free, after all …

(Cross-posted from APOV)