The Legacy of George W. Bush

From 2001 through 2009, President George W. Bush and his administration staged a relentless attack on the Constitution and the rule of law in the United States.

For example:

  • The First Amendment forbids the Federal Government from giving money to religious organizations. Bush proudly did exactly that within a week of taking office.

  • Bush endorsed Bob Woodward's book Plan of Attack - a book that describes how Bush illegally diverted funds from fighting the Taliban in order to attack Iraq.

  • The Constitution defines treason as aiding America's enemies. Bush knowingly did so by giving $43 million to the Taliban in mid-2001.

  • Bush's lawyers (including Alberto Gonzales) blatantly proclaimed him above the law, stated that anyone they accused of being a terrorist had no protection against torture, and declared that anyone that Bush labeled an "enemy combatant" had no right to due process. (In other words, they declared that anyone Bush didn't like could be locked up without charge and imprisoned, without proof, counsel, trial, judge or jury, forever.) These "opinions" stood in direct violation of the War Crimes Act and other anti-torture laws -- and the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments. Bush told ABC News that he had approved meetings where questionable interrogations were discussed. Vice President Dick Cheney went even farther, telling ABC News that "we don't do torture, we never have," but he nevertheless supported the use of waterboarding -- a technique also known as "drowning torture." MSNBC's Rachel Maddow pointed out that, under U.S. law, waterboarding is torture. Not only is it a war crime, it is a capital crime: after World War II, the Allies tried, convicted, and executed Axis leaders for using it.

  • The Constitution requires that the President "shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed." One of Bush's first acts as President was to order the Environmental Protection Agency to stop enforcing laws preventing pollution. He subsequently used over 1200 "signing statements" to justify ignoring laws passed by Congress, including the McCain Amendment.

  • When the New York Times revealed that Bush had ordered the National Security Agency to wiretap Americans' phones without search warrants, Bush defended the practice -- claiming that seeking search warrants from the court established to protect our national security would damage national security. According to USA Today, Bush also instructed the NSA to spend our tax dollars building an enormous database of every phone call made in the country. These kinds of illegal wiretaps brought down the Nixon Administration in 1974, and were just as illegal when Bush ordered them. The laws of our nation apply to the President as much as to the rest of us.

  • And these are only the crimes that Bush publicly acknowledged.

    Bush's contempt for the basic American values of human rights, due process, religious freedom, and the seperation of powers was wholeheartedly endorsed by almost all Republicans in Congress. Even the minority Democrats who opposed his crimes rarely did anything to stop them. For instance, when Bush ordered his subordinates to ignore subpoenas, Congress refused to hold those subordinates in contempt. Even when Bush admitted his "high crimes and misdimeanors," Congress refused to impeach him as the Constitution requres.

    The impeachments of Nixon and Clinton proved that Presidents - even elected ones - are not above the law. However, for eight years, Congress refused to hold President Bush and Vice President Cheney accountable for their actions. According to the Constitution, officials who commit crimes must be impeached and removed from office. Impeachment of Bush and Cheney was Congress' legal obligation -- and as Congress did not act, they set a terrifying precedent. Congress is required to act whenever government officials commit crimes, whether or not it's politically expedient at the time.

    As Americans, we must never allow this to happen again. If President Obama -- or any other future president -- uses the power of the office to commit crimes, he or she must be impeached, removed from office, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. In the United States, no one is above the law -- not even the President.

    Essays

    George W. Bush Versus the Bill of Rights
    "Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character." - Margaret Chase Smith
    This is my own argument against the Bush Presidency, based solely upon the Constitution. - C.C.

    George W. Bush Versus the Ten Commandments
    "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just." - Thomas Jefferson on slavery

    George W. Bush Versus the Beatitudes
    "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me." - Matthew 15:07
    "...Christ had a special place in his heart for the meek and the downtrodden. For the most publicly religious administration in memory... this one seems the least Christian." - Al Franken

    Letter to George W. Bush on the eve of the Iraq War | Letter to Senators on the eve of the Iraq War
    "We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it." - William Faulkner

    Letter to the Republican Governors
    "Guard against the postures of pretended patriotism." - George Washington

    Letter to Senator John McCain on the Democratic Primaries
    "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people." - John F. Kennedy

    Letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger on John Kerry
    "To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt

    George W. Bush for Ex-President: Lies at the 2004 Republican Convention
    Day One | Day Two | Day Three | Day Four | The Last Word
    "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." - George W. Bush

    Letter to Senator John McCain on the PATRIOT Act
    "We must preserve our commitment at home to the principles for which we fight abroad." - Sandra Day O'Connor

    Letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein on Flag-Burning
    "The basis of conservatism is a desire for less governmental interference, or less centralized authority." - Ronald Reagan

    George W. Bush Versus the Facts: Response to his 6/28/05 Speech
     "The administration would like the American public to believe that Saddam's intention to build a weapons program, regardless of actual weapons or the capability to produce weapons, justified invading Iraq." - Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV

    An Answer to Karl Rove
    "Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration." - the Marquis de Lafayette

    Letter to Senator John McCain on Torture
    "In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete [the] Geneva [convention]'s strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners, and renders quaint some of its provisions." - Alberto Gonzales, 1/25/2002

    Letter to Congress on John Murtha
    "He who fights when he need not is either a fool or a knave." - Christopher Stasheff

    Letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein
    Although I reluctantly endorsed Ms. Feinstein for re-election, I have since come to believe that voting for her was a mistake. - C.C.

    Letter to Congress on Impeachment
    " Wherever law ends, tyranny begins." - John Locke

    Letter to Senator John McCain on the Failure of the McCain Amendment
    "America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle." - George H.W. Bush (Senior)

    Letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein on the FISA act
    "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Richard Jackson & Benjamin Franklin

    Letter to Senators: End the Iraq War
    "The responsibility of a great state is to serve and not to dominate the world." - Harry Truman

    Letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein on Wiretaps
    "The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." - John Adams

    Letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Investigation and Impeachment
    "Obedience of the law is demanded - not asked as a favor." - Theodore Roosevelt

    Letter to Senator Harry Reid on Withdrawal
    "No body or individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation." - the Marquis de Lafayette

    Letter to Congress on Withdrawal and Impeachment
    "Just as a man would not cherish living in a body other than his own, so do nations not like to live under other nations, however noble and great the latter may be." - Gandhi

    Letter to Congress on Impeachment of Vice President Cheney
    "Even if I am a minority of one, truth is still the truth." - Gandhi

    Letter to Congress on Impeachment of Attorney General Gonzales
    "No man is above the law and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man's permission when we ask him to obey it." - Theodore Roosevelt

    Letter to Nancy Pelosi on War Appropriations
    "We are spending $8 billion a month in Iraq. That's $2 billion each week, $267 million each day, or $11 million each hour. For what we spend in three weeks, we could make needed improvements in order to properly secure our public transportation systems. For what we spend in five days, we could put radiation detectors in all of our ports. And for two days in Iraq, we could screen all air cargo." - Howard Dean

    Letter to Nancy Pelosi: Kucinich is Right, Impeach Cheney
    "Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people." - Theodore Roosevelt

    Letter to Nancy Pelosi: Bush Will Not Change His Mind
    "This president is not going to negotiate about this... How clear could anything be? He will not negotiate. He will not compromise. He does not think he's capable of doing anything wrong. He has to be stopped." - John Edwards

    Correspondence with Congressman George Miller on Impeachment
    "I was so busy trying to keep my job that I forgot to do my job." -- Aaron Sorkin, The American President

    Correspondence with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Impeachment
    "Our Lord said to love our enemies and forgive them; He did not say we should not fight them." - Christopher Stasheff

    Letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wiretaps Without Warrants
    "Reagan... believed that government out of control is the main threat to individual freedom in the modern world." - Peggy Noonan

    Letter to Senators on the Nomination of Michael Mukasey | Follow-Up Letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein
    "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." - Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI

    George W. Bush Versus American Values:
    Letter to Senator John McCain on MoveOn.org and Attorney General Mukasey
    "The free state offers what a police state denies: the privacy of the home, the dignity and peace of mind of the individual." - William O. Douglas

    Yet Another Letter to Congress on Torture and Impeachment
    "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political in stability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture." - Article 2.1 of the International Convention Against Torture

    A Former McCain Supporter Apologizes: Hypocrisy at the 2008 Republican Convention
    "The Republican candidate and the Republican Congress do not trust the people. They just work along at their old problem of trying to fool the people into voting for the interests of the few." - Harry Truman, 1948

    A Reply to Joe Porter: A Letter from California
    "The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution." - John F. Kennedy

    George W. Bush Must be Stopped
    "So this is how liberty dies - with thunderous applause." - George Lucas

    Letter to Congress: Abolish the Electoral College
    "There is nothing to fear except the persistent refusal to find out the truth." - Dorothy Thompson

    A little humor: The League of Reactionary Gentlemen
    "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana

    The League of Reactionary Gentlemen II: Neoconservative Empire
    "As long as people believe in absurdities, they will continue to commit atrocities." - Voltaire

    The League of Reactionary Gentlemen III: The Bankrupt Empire
    "...I commend to my country the re-election of President Bush, and the steady, experienced, public-spirited man who serves as our Vice-President, Dick Cheney." - John McCain, August 30, 2004

    The League of Reactionary Gentlemen IV: The Return to Power
    "I want George W. Bush! We need unwavering leadership." - Mitt Romney, September 1, 2004

    A little more humor: The Reckoning
    "Satan's successes are the greatest when he appears with the name of God on his lips." - Gandhi

    President Romney?
    "The Republican candidate and the Republican Congress do not trust the people. They just work along at their old problem of trying to fool the people into voting for the interests of the few." -- Harry Truman, 1948

    Impeachment Links | Other Links
    "There is no more important task before us than to bring our troops home safely and soon, and we will continue to work to do so. However, I believe impeachment proceedings against the President or the Vice President will not contribute to attaining that goal." - Nancy Pelosi, September 12, 2007
    "Now you see [why] evil will always triumph: because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet

    In the Obama Era: the Republican Party Versus Common Sense
    "The Republican argument against the President’s re-election was actually pretty simple - pretty snappy. It went something like this: We left him a total mess. He hasn’t cleaned it up fast enough. So fire him and put us back in." - Bill Clinton

    Restore Honor and Dignity to the White House.
    Impeach Bush.