Thursday, May 03, 2007
The Dark Heart of the Matter
Of course, the human spirit being what it is, a national system of laws were designed to protect citizens and act as the great equalizer against undemocratic, one-party propensities by the mighty.
And yet....after seeing the three-ring circus out of the White House, specifically Gonzales and his minions, it appears the great equalizer by way of laws has been reduced to a sad national joke, as Republican elites break every law on their way to power and $$$.
Howling Latina has written that laws need to be changed. Today, Arnold I. Burns, former attorney general to President Ronald Reagan writes an op-ed in the New York Times agreeing with HL.
Like the filming television crew of a starving family in a third-world country that fails to offer a sandwich while bemoaning their said state of affairs, congressional leaders need to stop with their phony outrage at the altar of their lame talking points and LEGISLATE![T]he only real solution is to depoliticize the Justice Department, to do away with the appearance of anyone playing politics there.
The solution is to have the attorney general appointed to a fixed term — say, 15 years — that wouldn’t be coterminous with the tenure of the president who appoints him. As with the director of the F.B.I. (a 10-year term) and the chairman of the Federal Reserve (a four-year, renewable term), the appointment would be made by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. Congress’s oversight would ensure that no political hack or crony of the president could be handed the job.
Likewise, the 93 United States attorneys should not be political apparatchiks, but talented lawyers selected half from Republican ranks and half from Democratic, following the system used for regulatory bodies like the Federal Communications Commission. These men and women should also be subject to Senate confirmation.
It is way past time to decry a system and not do a damn thing about it!
Yes, of course the attorney general serves at the pleasure of the president, as we've heard a gazillion times. But that my sweet friends is at the dark heart of the problem.
