Commute? Commute What?

The word “commute” means to exchange, replace or substitute one thing for another. Bush said he was commuting Liddy’s prison sentence, but took a prison sentence for lying, and replaced it with a reward for lying. Did Bush misspeak again, or was this something different? Maybe this is some of those “consequenchies” he promised to bring to America if he was elected?

Perhaps what was really commuted was the American constitution. Maybe our system of laws with its checks and balances, and division of powers has just been commuted to a new system of “doin’ what comes nacherly”, a new form of “it’s a miracle, by George!” It sounds like what they used to refer to back in the old swamps of north Florida as a “he-coon” running his territory the way it ought to be done.

It’s not so much that Bush is telling us he is going to do whatever he WANTS to do, but he is making sure we all know he will do whatever NEEDS to be done. Who decides the difference? He does. The He-coon is taking care of his pack. . The Decider is telling us that He and His “people” are above the laws that apply to ordinary people. If His people need to lie, then they should lie. If they tell a necessary lie He will take care of them. And rest assured that Libby will be pardoned along with many others at the last minute.

This also informs the American congress and courts that they really aren’t needed anymore. And if they ever are needed again, the Decider will call them and tell them where and when to assemble and what they need to do. The president will take care of America.

The same may apply to our military. They can now attack whomever they need to attack. How will they know who that is? The Decider will tell them. He may already have done that. Like He already did in Iraq. If He needs advice He can consult His old friend, Dick Cheney.

So – what to do? Well let’s face it, democracy never triumphs, it never wins in the end. It is always an uneasy balance between different and often opposing forces. It’s messy. It always involves uncertainty and makes its citizens do things they really don’t want to have to do. Like talking with each other about our common problems, like war, like presidential power, like patriotism. Notice I didn’t say we need to talk TO each other but WITH each other.

Can we even talk with each other again? Republicans and democrats, liberals and conservatives, white and black, male and female and all the in-betweeners. All that can be done, not easy, but doable. But there is still a bigger problem, and that is the communication between America’s rich and poor, its educated and uneducated. Can we do that? Probably not.

But remember that revolution is always an alternative, too. Let’s not let that become too attractive to too many Americans.

Maybe we can’t talk to everybody, but at least we can talk to our friends and to our congress people. We can do e-mail, telephone calls, letters, blogs, articles to our local newspapers.

© John Womack, 2007. All rights reserved.