Monday, November 26, 2007

... hmmm... a 3rd possibility: the "I, Claudius" solution

... this is a continuation of the "Let's assume they're not idiots" post below.

A third possibility presents itself: the "I, Claudius" solution.

In the Robert Graves book, and PBS series based on the book, Claudius is portrayed as a strict Republican, who desperately wants to return Imperial Rome to the purity of the Roman Republic. To achieve this, when he is proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard, he resolves to govern as audaciously and as poorly as possible, the idea being to force the Senate to remove him and restore the Republic.

It doesn't work. The Senate is perfectly happy to tolerate his excesses, and he is (both in fiction and in fact) a fairly successful Emperor - extending Rome's domain to Britain, among other achievements.

Somehow I doubt that the W/Cheney cabal has in mind behaving so badly that Congress calls for a new Constitutional Convention to abolish the Presidency... but I guess it is a possibility!

Again: I assume that someone in W's Administration has at some time asked, "Do we really want to bequeath an unlimited Executive to our Democratic successor?"... and that W/Cheney have seen their way out of this dilemma. How?

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