"We The People..." Right?

Today President Bush told 60 Minutes that he has the authority to act in any matter that he feels necessary in concern to sending more troops to Iraq; much less his handling of the entire war. Facing stern opposition from both parties in Congress, the president sent his chief crony, Dick Cheney on national television to reiterate the point. Cheney believes that it is the president’s responsibility to run the war, not Congress. Furthermore, Cheney said that opposition from critics in Congress would not influence decisions made by the president.

This defensive stance by the White House is nothing new, but it does come just days before both the House and Senate plan to vote on a non-binding resolution combating the president’s plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq. The non-binding resolution would in no way affect the way in which Bush will continue to handle the war. But it is by far the biggest stance from Congress over the Iraq issue. Bush maybe the commander in chief of the armed forces, yet as every new day passes, his administration seems to be imitating a dictatorship.

The last time I read the Constitution, I was under the impression that we lived in a federal republic, not a dictatorship. The backlash against the president against his own war by the people of this country should signal to Bush that enough is enough; just drop it. We elect the president to follow through with the will of the people, not his own will. When a president’s own party takes a stance against its own leader, one must assume that there is something seriously wrong. What is this war really worth to the American people?

This war is worth nothing and like the Vietnam conflict, this pointless variance is further destroying the reputation of a great nation. The resistance in Iraq may not be able to break the will of the George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, but when there was no will or legitimate reason to be there in the first place, well I do not see the harm in pulling out. I feel sorry for the Iraqis, as when we do pull out we will be leaving those who want a stable country high and dry. Instead of defeating the terrorists, the president is further infuriating and giving life to those who choose to participate in this global “jihad.”

There are many critics to the war, but Cheney does have a point when he says that the Democrats do not have a better alternative for dealing with the war. I have an alternative; impeach the president. The notion has been thrown around before and even introduced to the House, but obviously, to no avail. If the Democrats are to gain a full grasp on the war and reign in presidential power, they need to show the White House that they are not afraid to stand up to this dictator of sorts. They may not act tomorrow, but when they figure out that talking to the president is comparable to talking to a wall; they will act.