A 'national emergency' will provide Bush the raw power he needs to cancel the elections and hold on to even greater executive power. Over the course of his criminal and illegitimate regime, George W. Bush has assumed powers that in cases of a 'national emergency' make of him an absolute ruler beyond the powers of the Congress or the Courts. It has all been locked up rather neatly and planned well in advance. A 'decider' by self-proclamation, Bush conveniently 'decides' what is and what is not a 'national emergency. He is the sole arbiter.

The 'mechanism' by which Bush consolidates all his power is called Executive Directive 51 [See: White House, National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/NSPD 51 ]. Signed into law on May 4, 2007, it specifies the 'procedures' to be taken in the wake of a 'catastrophic emergency' --'any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions'.

If we simply go to red ... it basically shuts down the country. --Tom Ridge, CBS News Interview, December 2003

The Bush administration is prepared to move upon the slightest pretext. What is called the 'TOPOFF' exercise 'games' a Code Red alert. An "actual terrorist attack" of the type envisaged under TOPOFF 3 leads to a Code Red Alert, creating conditions for the suspension of civilian government.The 'civilian government' would be closed down, taken over by an Emergency Administration.

Long before Bush had signed the measure, FEMA had begun the construction of a 'gulag archipelago' of FEMA concentration camps that were most certainly built with this outcome in mind. They are complete and await a first train load of domestic victims of Bush's Fourth Reich

At hearings of a congressional sub-committee in New Orleans, FEMA official Glenn Cannon acknowledged that it had been considering the use of trains to transport large numbers of people to camps and various locations around the United States. The revelation was ominous as this use of trains is associated with Adolph Hitler's hellish Third Reich. The camps and the mass transportation of people to them is a cornerstone in Bush's elaborate and detailed preparations for a declaration of martial law. To every citizen of the US --whether incarcerated in a hellish concentration camp or not --the declaration of martial means but one thing: an absolute dictatorship!

coup d'etat

The various scenarios have main points in common: Bush will, upon any pretext, declare a national emergency, cancel the elections, and impose martial law. With martial law comes absolute power, a ruthless crack down on dissent, mass arrests and mass incarcerations. A 'pre-text' is never an obstacle to would-be dictators. With the Reichstag Fire, Hitler proved that 'pretexts' are easily manufactured.The most likely and most obvious scenario has already been run up the flag pole by GOP's un-official propaganda minister --Rush Limbaugh. What Limbaugh has in mind is a classic Nazi tactic: a riot by agent provocateurs for which 'liberals' and Democrats will be blamed. If the riots are violent, Bush will cite them as the only pretext he will need to declare 'martial law' and, having already placed himself in charge of 'emergency planning', Bush will have completed his. In a state of 'emergency', he will cancel the elections and rule by decree.One can be certain that if Democrats will not provide Bush the pretext he needs to declare martial law, the GOP will do it themselves and blame the 'left'. A clue to GOP thinking may be found in the history of the GOP convention in New York. Then Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge designated the GOP convention a 'national security special event'. As a result, the security operation was run by the US Secret Service. It took a 'zero tolerance' approach, meaning 'any protest' would be busted up. If Bush's future is on the line, you can count on the GOP to support even more drastic measures.

The 'election' of 2004 was but a harbinger of worse things to come. In a nation that claims to be 'of the people and for the people', a 13-block swath of New York City was closed off to the public. In 2004, the GOP needed only steal key precincts in one or two key states. While the nation escaped an outright declaration of martial law, it did not escape the Bush's continuing assault upon the Bill of Rights and the separation of powers.In 2004, Democratic politicians issued stern warnings that demonstrators who wished to gather in Central Park avoid confrontations that would facilitate a GOP crack down or feed GOP efforts to 'whip up the right wing base'. Never-the-less, ham-fisted tactics by the Bloomberg administration were seen by many to be the main reasons for protest.

It's only reasonable to assume that as the prospects for a Democratic victory in November brighten, the countervailing prospects for a manipulation of the electoral process grow simultaneously more ominous. So?. . . What do we do? I think the answer is obvious, frankly, and organic. I propose a general strike, to begin immediately concurrent with the announcement of any cancellation, postponement and/or abridgment of the Presidential Elections scheduled for November 2, 2004; such strike to terminate when, and only when, elections are successfully completed and fairly counted. If you work, simply don't go in. If you're a student, simply don't go to school. If you're a stay-at-home mom or dad, simply stay-at-home with your kids. Don't shop, don't drive, don't eat at restaurants. Don't do anything, except subsist. Unless another person's life is in your immediate professional hands, cease doing what you normally do until such time as the powers-that-be come to their senses and remember that whatever power they claim necessarily derives from the people. --What to do if the election is cancelled or postponed, AudieMcCall

There were fears the election of 2004 would be canceled. For all the good they did, they might as well have been.Keep in mind that the passage above was written before the elections of 2004. We know now that Bush stole 2004, as, in fact, he stole the White House with a felonious, riotous assault in Florida organized and paid for by the Bush for President campaign.

There is a greater chance that Bush will simply cancel the elections this time around. Bush doesn't have the luxury of stealing the election; his name will not be on the ballot. The US is caught in the circular logic by which the GOP/right wing justifies a panoply of atrocities. Having left the nation no peaceful means by which it might express the popular will, Bush will cite 'violence' as justification for even more extreme measures. This is the death cycle of Democracy.Bush will need a 'riot' in order to declare martial law and will require martial law to justify his crackdowns on dissent and 'civil disturbance'. The right wing's relationship to dissent mirrors that of Bush's relationship to 'terrorism'. Bush, in fact, is nothing without terrorism and his policies can be shown to be the cause of it. Thus --he will and does manufacture it! [See: Terrorism is always worse under GOP regimes.

Meanwhile, Bush pushes forward on a broad front --conducting 'martial law exercises', conveniently putting himself in charge of 'emergency planning'. Kellogg/Brown and Root has built a 'gulag archipelago' of concentration camps across America as Rush Limbaugh calls for 'riots' at the Democratic Convention.

Homeland security is one piece of a broader strategy [which] brings the battle to the enemy... But while one key to defense is offense, it is not the entirety of our security picture. For we also need a “defense in depth” as part of the strategic whole. That means even as we pursue terrorists overseas, we work at home to prevent infiltration by terrorists and their weapons; to protect our people and places if infiltration occurs; and to respond and recover if an attack is carried out. This is embodied in our strategy of building multiple barriers to terrorist attacks. [Transcript of complete March 2005 speech of Secr. See:Michael Chertoff]

The GOP, adrift since the end of the McCarthy era, nevertheless managed to hold on to power due to the timely assassinations of key Democratic leaders --primarily those named Kennedy, those of color, those who opposed a crooked establishment. LBJs decision not to seek a second term brought the 'Great Society' to an end. Jimmy Carter was effectively nullified with troubles in Iran and a GOP focus group word which stuck: 'stagflation'. In fact, Carter's economic record was better than ANY GOP President since World War II. The GOPs hold on power defies science and statistics. It is best explained by a few well-chosen words. 'Crookery' and 'thuggery' are among them.By the time Bush Jr sought the White House, it was clear that the GOP needed an external threat equal to that of 'communism'. Wars on porn, drugs and Murphy Brown paled compared to the hysteria that could be fanned with something like 'communism'. The convenience and timing of 911 defies statistics. It remains yet another highly improbable 'catalyzing event' that had been wistfully desired by NEOCONS in the Project for the New American Century paper entitlted 'Rebuilding America's Defenses'.Thus, Bush will cite an 'external threat' as the pretext to assume the powers he needs and will use to wage war --not on terrorists --but upon dissent here at home. There is a word for this: tyranny!Additional resource