Gangsters

When looking at the antics of the Cheney administration, it's difficult to maintain a steady eye without suffering a sense of vertigo. Supporting the Shiites in Iraq and saber-rattling against Iran, denouncing a nuclear armed North Korea while demolishing the agreements that were made to avoid it, calling for the militarization of space and protesting when the Chinese blow up a satellite, the list goes on and on.

I've found that the best solution to keep one's head from exploding while reading the news is to keep this handy phrase in the front of my mind: "These are gangsters."

Why gangsters? Let me count the ways:

1. They hate and fear the rule of law.
2. They lie out of instinct more than necessity.
3. They steal everything that isn't nailed down, and much that is.
4. Everything to them is secret, except when information is useful for slander and blackmail.
5. They have no regard for their citizens, nor for the military.
6. Institutions are only useful if they can be subverted and used for their own ends.
7. Violence and death aren't unfortunate necessities, they're fun!
   
8. They can only be driven from power, they will never give it up.

These gangsters are now in power in at least three countries in the world, the US, Britain and Israel, there's a good chance that Turkey is another, and Russia was certainly on its way to overt gangsterism before Putin fought back.

Point 8 above is the kicker, of course, and it's why I'm looking forward to the next two years, both as cosmic entertainment, and as a student of history. The forces that need to be arrayed to drive them from power will be hard to hide this time, far more so than the forces that put them in power. There is no guarantee of success, and it will in all probability lead to supreme power being passed on to others rather than a return to a republic, hopefully they will be more inclined to bear their responsibilities and care about the preservation of the country and the world. Certainly, if Cheney is still in power in 2009 we'll know that we are thoroughly fucked.