I feel a bit like one of those Marxist hard-liners who refused to back social democratic reforms because they only delayed the inevitable revolution. The position was that, by mitigating the contradictions of capitalism, they acted as a smokescreen for the interests of the governing class, providing certain creature comforts to the workers and giving them the illusion they had a greater say in their own rule. Marxists insisted that such half-measures deferred the inevitable triumph of the workers, and the freedoms offered by social democratic reforms were illusory because they did nothing to alter the fundamental realities of the structure of economic relations that determined power. Like those Marxists, I will not argue that Bush should refrain from pardoning Scooter. In fact, I look forward to it. The display of support from all sorts of Washington Establishment types (including James Carville) rushing to defend one of their own from the depredations of our justice system offers a wonderful display of how the system really works; a pardon would just be icing on the cake.
I believe that Bush pardoning Scooter would be the last hammer blow to the final nail on the coffin of the Republican Party. The fact that a pardon is supported by most of the candidates on the Republican side only highlights the distance between the Washington elite and the rest of the country. We have to consider, also, that Bush is like every other recalcitrant child in the world; people who push and tug at him only make him dig in his heels and insist he will do what he wants, regardless of the advice given him by people both more intelligent and understanding than he is. I think the public furor will only strengthen his resolve to do whatever it is he was planning to do, so go on, Mr. Boy President, sign that pardon paper, and kill off the Republican Party for good. Make your friends happy, make the insiders happy - and guarantee a Democratic majority for a generation to come.
