Jurisprudence by Faith Alone

Hoping the American people will be more understanding of him than our elected leaders, President Bush is calling for a new type of government. He won't do this directly, as the shake-up would be too great, but he does it indirectly in the way he pursues policies, and the way he addresses the nation. The most recent example comes from his statements today about Harriet Meir's nomination to the Supreme Court.

""Harriet Miers is an extraordinary woman. She was a legal pioneer in Texas. She was ranked one of the top 50 women lawyers in the United States on a consistent basis." He added later, "Harriet Miers is a fine person, and I expect her to have a good, fair hearing on Capitol Hill.""

Hoping the American people will believe him that the only thing necessary to run a country well (or be prepared for disasters, or interpret the contstitution) is to be trusted by the President, Bush is refusing to release papers that would give the Senate some indication of what she did/wrote/thought while working for the White House.

It seems that the Senate has followed Bush's earlier advice, "Fool me once...shame on...shame on you. Fool me twice...can't get fooled again." It took them more than twice, but with the disaster on the Gulf Coast fresh in their minds, and with Michael Brown still defiant about any responsibility for the failed preparations, the Senate seems unwilling to simply accept President Bush as their modern day political savior.

Isn't it strange that it takes a Republican controlled Congress and an politically faltering Republican President for the Senate to begin to re-assert itself as a legitimate branch of the U.S. government?

I wonder what things would be like if we had two political parties that were willing to stand up to the abuse of power?