Can the Democrats and Republicans Snatch Catastrophe from the Jaws of Defeat in Iraq?

  On the same day that the Democrats in Congress, acting like they had no responsibility for the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, are passing resolutions calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, General David Patraeus, the commander of the armed forces in Iraq, is saying that a purely military solution is not possible; a political solution is also necessary.

   It does not take a psephologist or a Princeton Professor of Political Science or Constitutional History to have a brain seizure at this fundamental role reversal where the political arm of the government trying to make military policy while the military leadership talks politics.  Not surprisingly, the commercial media pundits have failed to notice this inversion.

  The cause of this absurdity is the fundamental constitutional transposition that resulted from the selection of George W. Bush as president in 2000.  Bush and Gore together decided to strengthen the Two Party System by agreeing to substitute the Supreme Court for the Electoral College in the resolution disputed presidential elections.

   In their wisdom, the founders of the United States did not mention political  parties in the Constitution, although they were well known to the people who fought the War for Independence.  This was no oversight, but a deliberate way of saying, "There is nothing good to be said about political parties."  The Supreme Court, however, has a huge body of legal opinion concerning political parties, their operations and their financing. 

  The Constitution clearly prescribes that the president should be chosen by the Electoral College of the various states, and failing that, the House of Representatives with each state having one vote.  The Supreme Court is not mentioned in the chain of command.

   The inversion of the political and military is, along with the wars, record deficits, skyrocketing economic inequality and voter disaffection with both Parties at every level of  government, a logical consequence of the corrupted process that resulted in George Bush's selection in 2000.  The United States is looking increasingly like a third world country; the logical consequence of an undemocratic election.

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Contact: Joshua Leinsdorf