As if we needed more proof that George W. Bush and Company regard the United States and everybody and everything in it as their private royal fiefdom, we now have the nomination of Bush's personal lawyer, Harriet Miers, to the Supreme Court. Some are calling this cronyism, linking it with the appointment of the unqualified Michael Brown to FEMA, not to mention numerous other political hacks throughout the bureaucracy. It is that, of course, but it is even worse than that.What we now see is that the Bush Republicans have been deliberately turning the entire United States into the private preserve of their new elite. We have cadet members of the new aristocracy and fawning "close associates" appointed to high powered jobs despite a complete lack of any real qualifications; the old-time "spoils system" writ large. When these unqualified people fail, they are never truly punished, of course. Instead, they are given other jobs and awards, their careers protected and enhanced with new titles.
Bush, the royal leader, of course is never brought to account for anything. To the contrary; any questioning of his Imperial Highness is labeled treasonous by his loyal servants and worshippers. Their main "argument" is to run around screaming, "How can you do this! You must support the President! The President deserves to have people around him he can trust! You're a terrorist, you are helping Bin Laden!" and so on.
Even worse, sacrificing our children (but NOT their own, of course) in pointless wars launched out of ideological obsessions best left to psychotherapists to analyze. Now, they are even attempting to the expand the power of "their" military to include police powers within the United States itself. This, of course, would put civilian control of military in grave danger, not to mention states' rights.
Meanwhile, the Republican Congress and their publicity flacks exert every effort, through tax legislation and various ?reforms? that are not really reforms, to make this new elite permanent. What they are busy creating is a society with a de facto new aristocracy, a middle class whittled down from both ends, and a low-wage peasant class expected to be subservient and to accept their new role as vassals of the Imperial Highness. Any complaints? Too bad. It is God's will. Get used to it.