Tyranny at home

One may disagree with the function of a panel like the US Commission on Civil Rights, but the Bush Administration's complete disregard for the agency's mission -- which is to prevent discrimination due to race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin -- and the way the commission was set up to operate -- an equal split between members of both parties -- is more evidence of this president's tyranny of our government.

A story in today's Globe outlines how two of the commissioners switched their party affiliation from Republican to independent so that Bush could appoint two more members of the GOP without going against the letter of the law, which holds than no more than four of the eight members can belong to one party. The president effectively spit at the spirit of the law.

Time and again, the inner workings of federal agencies have been tinkered with in order to politicize the infrastructure and tip the balance toward conservative ideology. These actions are beyond the scope of any previous administration. Amazingly, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recently told Congress that the agency was not interested in receiving increased funding to help it do a better job. This in the wake of recall after recall of dangerous products from China!

The Bush Administration has proven again and again to be clearly and unabashedly on the side of big business in every facet of government. The president's behavior and that of his minions is tyrannous and we, the people, should have ousted him from power long ago.