Back in May, President Bush issued a Presidential Directive concerning the National Continuity Policy – NSPD-51 and HSPD-20.
The directive loosely defines “catastrophic emergency” as “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.”
When the president determines a catastrophic emergency has occurred, the president can take over all government functions and direct all private sector activities to ensure we will emerge from the emergency with an “enduring constitutional government.”
Translated into layman’s terms, when the president determines a national emergency has occurred, the president can declare to the office of the presidency powers usually assumed by dictators to direct any and all government and business activities until the emergency is declared over. [source]
I ask the question “What is Bush up to” not because I believe he’s up to no good, but because I think it’s the job of all patriotic Americans to be suspicious of those with power over us. The thing about America is that we are a nation by, of, and for the people. Allowing anybody to have dictatorial powers over us, even in a time of national emergency, is something that we should be very careful about.
Incidentally, this is a really good example of why the founders of this nation specifically pointed out our right to keep and bear arms.
Here is a video of the author of the quote I used above, talking about his article on C-Span.
