Here are some random resources (links to and quotes from a few articles) that show that the Bush administration has been taking the more obvious steps that anyone would take if they were planning to overthrow our constitutional government.
PRECEDENTS and PARADIGMS
As Aristotle writes in the Politics: "It is of the intrinsic character of the tyrant that he works to insure that his subjects everywhere are spied upon so that nothing of their dealings is a secret from him; ... and he conspires always to set men against their own friends, the common people against the privileged and the wealthy, and so forth. And he will ruin the treasury to pay the military ... levying great fiscal burdens upon his people; and finally, constantly does he foment war, to provide the matrix in which his power expandsand every challenge of his misdeeds may be called treason. ... But no virtuous man will find success in such a reign."
... Some fear that The Decider may decide not to leave office on 1/20/09, e.g. Naomi Wolf and Justin Raimondo. IMHO, this is a very real possibility that needs to be dicussed.
... Project for the Old American Century: http://www.oldamericancentury.org/...
... I'd put the nation into a permanent state of war, like Big Brother did in Orwell's 1984 and George W. Bush announced in his 2006 of the Union address:
The evil that inspired and rejoiced in 9/11 is still at work in the world. And so long as that's the case, America is still a nation at war ...
As Robert Parry points out: "[T]hat 'evil' will always be 'at work in the world,' so America will always be 'a nation at war' and thus, under Bush's theories of unlimited Commander-in-Chief powers, the American Republic will be banished permanently."
... I'd enact "a provision making it easier for the President to declare martial law, stripping state governors of part of their authority over state National Guard units in domestic emergencies." http://leahy.senate.gov/...
... I'd issue a directive granting me dictatorial power in event of a national emergency. And I'd then issue another directive granting me authority to declare such national emergencies. For details, see: http://www.chattanoogan.com/... Also http://www.globalresearch.ca/...
INTELLIGENCE and SURVEILLANCE
... I'd establish a national surveillance system to include phone recording, archiving, and mining of all phone traffic: "Senators Wary of Bush's Wiretap Proposal" by MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer in LA Times, 1:41 AM PDT, May 2, 2007 http://www.latimes.com/...
... I'd force people to spy on each other: http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
... I'd ask the FBI to abuse the Patriot Act to find out all they could about anybody and everybody, e.g., their reading habits.
INFILTRATION
- GENERAL
... I'd install a political commisar in every agency of the federal government, just like President Bush did recently: http://www.nytimes.com/...
- MILITARY
... I'd shift assets and responsibilities from the uniformed military, who might be loyal to the people and their republic, to private mercinaries reporting to commisars loyal only to me: http://www.gnn.tv/...
... I'd install commisars sympathetic to my cause in each unit of the military and police:
... I'd establish a private Praetorian Guard reporting not through uniformed-military channels but through my loyal wealthy campaign contributors, just like a recent LA Times says Bush has done. "Our mercenaries in Iraq"
http://www.latimes.com/...
- LEGAL SYSTEM
... I'd plan on consolidating my grasp on power by using the nation's judicial and penal systems to harass, intimidate, and ultimately crush all opposition. "The Department of Injustice" by Paul Krugman.
... Under what circumstance would one attempt to fill all federal prosecutor position with political hacks? Read Krugman as to what has happened, with Arlen Specter's assistance: "Surging and Purging" by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, Friday 19 January 2007: http://www.truthout.org/...
... A parallel legal system that I controlled and where defendants had no rights would be a good thing to have. Robert Parry explains how Bush has been accomplished this: http://www.truthout.org/...
MEDIA and PRESS
... I'd consolidate the media under the control of powerful oligarch allies.
. Facts On Media In America: Did You Know? http://www.commoncause.org/...
. Media Ownership Rules Explained: http://www.commoncause.org/...
. Notable Quotes Against Media Consolidation: http://www.commoncause.org/...
. Money in Broadcast Politics: http://www.commoncause.org/...
. Timeline of Media Mega Mergers: http://www.commoncause.org/...
. A Tale of Five Cities: Why the Newspaper-Broadcast Cross-Ownership Ban Should be Preserved: http://www.commoncause.org/...
. Citizens Speak: The Real World Impacts of Media Consolidation: http://www.commoncause.org/...
My friends from the eastern block and from the intelligence community insist that current U.S. media is every bit as compliant as were Pravda and Tass, and much more dangerous because Soviet citizens knew that Pravda and Tass were compliant.
DETENTION
... I'd set up a systems of detention centers: "FEMA Concentration Camps: Locations and Executive Orders" by Friends of Liberty (undated). Also: "U.S. Concentration Camps: FEMA and the REX 84 Program - The Awakening News (undated)" http://www.mindfully.org/...
CONCLUSION
Per Helen Keller:
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
Per Sinclair Lewis: "When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in an American flag and carrying a cross."