There they go again...

In the past few days, I've received a considerable number of forwarded emails - many from folks who seldom send such things - all on the subject of Sarah Palin. One encourages making a small donation to Planned Parenthood in her name with the acknowledgement cards going to McCain headquarters. Another provides a chance to weigh in on a national poll that purports to her being considered a plausible choice for president by the majority of US voters. And yet another offers an interesting list of contradictions with Ms. Palin's recent campaign claims and actual realities of her record. All are intriguing -- and I'm playing along -- but I worry that we progressives are once again falling for Repugnantcan (like that?) distraction tactics once again.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I fully agree that the mere concept of Sarah Palin someday sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office is enough to send mid-winter-Alaska-worthy shivers up any thinking person's spine. Still, she's so not what I'm preoccupied with about this moment.

For several months, I have worried and predicted that the Bush/Cheney gang would come up with some kind of October Surprise. I'd figured it would be a manufactured military or terrorist emergency, orchestrated and timed to justify imposing Marshall Law and postponing the elections indefinitely. Interestingly, when I would share this hypothesis, hardly anyone dismissed it as a wacko conspiracy theory. It appears I was only mistaken about the method - not the madness.

This call for a quick and immediate Wall Street bailout is nothing less than masterful. Even assigning the starring role to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is brilliant. Unlike the usual White House suspects, most of us don't know much about him, so much skepticism can be deflected. As usual, many in the media are signing on lock, stock and barrel. (Even the so-called free and independent NPR used its Talk of The Nation show today to explore the possibility that the current economic crisis was fueled by individual citizens' greed; which may have a modicum of merit, but certainly serves to distract from the real greed-mongers). Back to Mr. Paulson; he was only recently an executive at Goldman Sachs, one of the firms that will greatly benefit from the so-called recovery effort; where he reportedly "earned" over $16 MILLION dollars during his most recent year of employment.

Starting to see a pattern here? See any similarity to the full-on propaganda campaign to invade Iraq based on sketchy information about WMDs? Remember the hand-wringing and call for patriotism among even some of the most liberal members of the US House and Senate over that one? Who benefited? The war profiteers of Haliburton and the rest of the Oil Barons, all dyed-in-the-wool Friends of Dubya.

What about the Patriot Act? Once again, our representatives (and most of the electorate, so it seems) fell hook, line and sinker for the need to cede our First Amendment freedoms to the executive branch - all in the name of security. Besides the privilege of getting felt up at the airport, what did that buy us?

Consider the infamous (and so far, unchallenged) signing statements invented by the Bush team. Or, the Supreme Court appointments of Roberts and Alito, both of whom committed to honoring precedence during their confirmation hearings. Holy legislating from the bench, anyone?

I fully admit that I am not smart enough to provide all the answers. (Neither, I might add, is Sarah Palin). I do remember this much from 9th grade Civics, however. Our democracy has been notable - and so far, fairly successful - largely because of the separation of powers built into the Constitution. The Legislative Branch was purposely designed to be deliberative. Hence, not inclined to pass the most sweeping legislation ever proposed in one week! We are on the verge of turning over arguably the most potent power of them all - the power of the purse - to the executive branch... the same folks who worked hand-in-hand with the manufacturers of the electronic voting machines, don't forget (see www.stealingamerica.com). Somehow I'm not comforted by the Current Occupant's "Trust Me" rhetoric.

I'm not sure it will do any good, but we have to make our voices known. Sure, let's get the word out about Sarah Palin. But there is so much more. John Dalburg-Acton famously observed, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Why else would John McCain give up his so-called maverick status and make pretty with the far right-wingers and the Bush gang?