Ian S. Thompson – 1/25/06

This page was last updated on January 25, 2006.

Power failure in Congress; Ian S. Thompson; Beaver County Times; January 25, 2006.

As background, Mr. Thompson is/was a Penn State student whose fields of study are/were English and international politics. When he “signed” an anti-landmine “treaty” on the web, Mr. Thompson indicated he was a member of Amnesty International. If you’ve read Mr. Thompson’s letters since at least mid-2004, you know he’s a full-blown socialist who tends to resort to name-calling and unsupported talking points.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“For anyone who has ever doubted the dangers of one-party rule of government, the current Republican-controlled Congress and its utter failure to act as a proper check and balance on the executive branch offers a deeply disturbing picture.”

[RWC] Note Mr. Thompson apparently doesn’t have a problem with the one-party Democrat rule for 34 of the 62 years from 1932 to 1994.

“By failing to carry out its constitutionally-mandated oversight responsibilities, Congress, and in particular its Republican members (i.e. Melissa Hart, Tim Murphy, Phil English, etc.), are failing the American people and our very system of government.”

[RWC] If Mr. Thompson read the Constitution, he would find no mention of “constitutionally-mandated oversight responsibilities.” Oversight implies superiority, and our government’s three branches are supposed to be equal.

“On the most important issues facing our country today, Congress is far too often absent and nowhere to be found.”

[RWC] What Mr. Thompson really means is that Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, has tended to agree with President Bush’s actions. A large number of Democrats supported the Iraq War and used even stronger words to describe the situation than did President Bush. Regarding the NSA monitoring of terrorist communication, members of both parties were briefed from the beginning and no one – including the Democrats – expressed opposition.

“Perhaps members of Congress are too busy being bought by lobbyists and succumbing to the corrupting influences of money. On everything from the lies that acted as a basis for the current occupation in Iraq (at last check total U.S. deaths stood at 2,225) to the disgraceful and illegal domestic spying and wiretapping programs that have included the Pentagon, NSA, and FBI to name only a few, Congress simply refuses to assert its proper role.”

[RWC] Mr. Thompson is still on the “lies” lie? What “illegal domestic spying and wiretapping?” If Mr. Thompson is referring to the recently disclosed NSA program to monitor phone calls and e-mail of suspected terrorists, the information we know now indicates that program covers international phone calls and e-mail, not domestic. Of course, Mr. Thompson may consider a plane flight from New York to Europe to be a domestic flight.

“This failure has left the executive branch with a dangerous level of unchecked and unchallenged power.”

[RWC] When I attended Penn State in the ‘70s, even engineering students had to take at least one American history class. If Mr. Thompson took such a class, I can only assume he learned little. Presidents Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Truman exerted far more power than President Bush has even considered. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and deported anti-war agitators, FDR imprisoned Americans of German and Japanese descent, and Truman put the steel industry under government control.

“To say nothing else, this is hardly the form of government that our founders envisioned more than 200 years ago.”

[RWC] In truth, the government Mr. Thompson wants would bear no relation to “the form of government that our founders envisioned more than 200 years ago,” unless we’re to believe our founders wanted a socialist government.

“If Republicans in Congress are unwilling to act as an independent and co-equal branch of government and actually check and balance excesses, then I say it is time for them to go. Our country stands at a crucial crossroads and is in desperate need of a new direction.”

[RWC] Mr. Thompson didn’t present credible examples of excesses.