All human institutions ossify, and they need to be shaken up every so often

The American Presidency is an interesting institution. It used to be that Presidents were afraid of power. George Washington didn't want the Presidency. Presidents would take pains not to accumulate too much power.

That's changed, in recent times. Many recent Presidents have tried to acquire power. Some have used it for good. Some, like Bush and his administration, have used it for evil. Let's not mince words.

We can see this, by the way, with Christianity. We used to be a cult that grew out of Judaism. Jesus spoke against many of the excesses of the Pharisees, who were wedded to the purity cult at the expense of real, live Jews. Later, though, Christians became powerful. The emperor of Rome became Christian ... later on, we started wars of conquest, such as the Crusades.

Back to the present. Now, the Democrats have won the House as well as the Senate. Rumsfeld's resignation was announced last night, in grudging acknowledgement of the nation's growing anti-war sentiment. Most Americans realize now that, at the very least, the war was very poorly executed. A minority of us have known all along that the war was conducted on faulty intelligence and/or fabricated pretenses, and opposed it from the beginning; I think the rest of America hasn't been listening to us, but never mind.

Good riddance, Donald Rumsfeld. Give thanks to God. If this world were just, you would be arraigned on charges of war crimes, and you would be facing life in prison. Be thankful that at least you won't face judgment in this life.

A quote from an article in SFGate:

Bush has indicated on numerous occasions that he would not allow his policy to be affected by political clamor, insisting that his strategy relies solely on the advice of military officials on the ground.

"We're winning, and we will win, unless we leave before the job is done,'' Bush said at a news conference two weeks ago, during which the only hint of a change was his repeated insistence that the U.S. forces are perpetually adapting to the enemy.

On Wednesday, he lamented that "somehow it seeped into (people's) conscience that, you know, my attitude was just simply stay the course.''

This administration has grown haughty in their power. The Republicans, in power in the Senate and Congress for 12 years, have grown haughty. We all know what Mary said in the Magnificat, that the mighty will be put down from their seats, and that the humble and meek will be exalted.

I don't want this to be a gloating session. The Democrats will grow as haughty as anyone else. They too will need to be challenged.


References:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/09/MNG1LM8VRV1.DTL