Carl Schmitt and the Bush Dictatorship by Kurt Nimmo

[Guest guest]

Mon, 1 May 2006 11:44:09 -0500 (CDT)

S

Carl Schmitt and the Bush Dictatorship by Kurt Nimmo

 

 

 

 

http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=355

 

Carl Schmitt and the Bush Dictatorship

Kurt Nimmo

 

 

 

Sunday April 30th 2006, 4:43 pm

 

 

If you need evidence the Straussian neocon controlled Bush

administration is a dictatorship, consider the " decider " in the White

House, according to the Boston Globe, " has quietly claimed the

authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office,

asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by

Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the

Constitution, " or rather his trashing of the Constitution. No doubt

Bush has never read the Constitution, not that it matters—he is

president in name only and the executive branch is controlled by a

cabal of Straussians who believe in Machiavellian dictatorship, not a

constitutionally limited republic. " Among the laws Bush said he can

ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action

provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration

services problems, `whistle-blower' protections for nuclear regulatory

officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally

funded research. "

 

Once upon a time, Congress had the power to write laws and to the

president a duty `'to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, "

but in Bushzarro world this tradition is turned on its head. In

effect, there is no reason for Congress to convene because the

Straussian fascists have declared Ausnahmezustand (state of emergency

under the pretense of a bogus war on terrorism) and now the executive

is free to break laws of all sort, both national and international.

 

Bush, not Saddam Hussein or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran, is the " new

Hitler " and the Patriot Act and subsequent legislation and executive

orders serve as the neocon Reichstag Fire Decree (in essence, a

continual state of emergency). Bush's Straussians have put into

practice the political philosophy of Carl Schmitt, who wrote Die

Diktatur (On Dictatorship) and believed the office of the

Reichspräsident should rule supreme and transform the juridical system

into a deadly juggernaut.

 

" These ideas came to neoconservatism both directly through Carl

Schmitt and through Leo Strauss who has taught many of the most

prominent neoconservatives in the present administration and indeed in

neoconservative think-tanks throughout the city, and indeed,

throughout the country, " writes the political theorist Anne Norton.

 

" Many legal scholars say they believe that Bush's theory about his own

powers goes too far and that he is seizing for himself some of the

law-making role of Congress and the Constitution-interpreting role of

the courts, " the Globe continues. " There is no question that this

administration has been involved in a very carefully thought-out,

systematic process of expanding presidential power at the expense of

the other branches of government, " explains Phillip Cooper, a Portland

State University law professor. `'This is really big, very expansive,

and very significant. " It is the ideology of Strauss and Schmitt in

action.

 

It should also be remembered that Carl Schmitt formulated the idea of

" friend and enemy, " that is to say that the enemy is whoever is " in a

specially intense way, existentially something different and alien, so

that in the extreme case conflicts with him are possible. " In the

current context, the vaunted " Clash of Civilizations " launched against

the Muslim world is just such an " extreme case, " resulting in not only

a lot of death and misery in the Middle East but the destruction of

" liberalism " here in America (classic liberalism, i.e., the ideas put

forth in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights). For Schmitt, it

does not matter who the enemy is, so long as enmity is manifestly

present and works to strengthen the executive and bring about

totalitarianism.

 

" No wonder that Schmitt admired thinkers such as Machiavelli and

Hobbes, who treated politics without illusions, " writes Alan Wolfe.

" Leaders inspired by them, in no way in thrall to the individualism of

liberal thought, are willing to recognize that sometimes politics

involves the sacrifice of life. They are better at fighting wars than

liberals because they dispense with such notions as the common good or

the interests of all humanity…. Schmitt's German version of

conservatism, which shared so much with Nazism, has no direct links

with American thought. Yet residues of his ideas can nonetheless be

detected in the ways in which conservatives today fight for their

objectives. " Of course, Wolfe has it wrong—Schmitt's fascism, his

desire for totalitarian dictatorship, has nothing to do with

conservatives, although it has everything to do with what we now call

neoconservatives, more accurately defined as Straussian neocons.

 

Bush may break laws willy-nilly and legal experts may tell us this is

wrong—but it is only a small footnote to a larger and grimmer story.

Bush—once again, when I say " Bush " I mean the Straussian neocons,

since George W. Bush is a near meaningless figurehead, practically a

useful idiot hailing from an elite family of long-term fascists,

law-breakers, and Nazi collaborators—is on the Straussian path leading

to the ultimate destruction of America (or at minimum turning it into

something unrecognizable to many of us). If we are to survive, we must

keep in mind Carl Schmitt's idea of " friend and enemy. "

 

If you easily dismiss the viciousness of Ann Coulter, Michael " Savage "

Weiner, and Rush " doctor shopping " Limbaugh as theatrics, think

again—it is the very essence of Schmitt's " friend and enemy "

philosophy in action, even if these " media personalities " are not

aware of it.

 

It has the very real and scary potential to become excessively

nasty—even lethal—and soon.