"So: according to our Attorney General, the nation's top law enforcement officer, it might be legal for the President to authorize the government to listen to your purely domestic conversations without getting a warrant, without consulting a judge, without obeying any of the safeguards that our system puts in place. A few short years ago, when conservatives were claiming that returning Elian Gonzales to his father was a harbinger of tyranny, one might have expected some real outcry at anything remotely resembling this revelation. Now, it's just normal.
And that really breaks my heart. What's at issue is our Constitutional system of government, in which the President has to obey the laws just like anyone else, and the enormous power of the federal government is restrained by the requirement that it be exercised within boundaries set up by Congress and subject to judicial review. Now the President just asserts that he has the "inherent authority" to disregard the laws, and Congress just rolls over and plays dead.
It is wrong of the President to disregard the Constitution, the laws, and the separation of powers. It is also wrong for members of Congress, including those in my party, to enable him to get away with this. I don't say this because I want President Bush, in particular, to pay a price for this. I think he should, but that's not my main concern. What worries me is the precedent this sets for the country. No one, of any party, should take it lightly; and I cannot imagine why our elected representatives can't see this."
One should follow the link and read further.
ReplyDeleteHowever I differ in my view of the majority. I sense that most people feel that the course Bush has set has put most of what Repugs and Dems have both worked for and buitt before Gingrich ushered in the Contract on America in jeopardy.
Everyone is seeing the fissures forming in the levees, so to speakM and worry that a large counter to the Neocons, instead of actually removing Bush and his cronies will cause the whole system to crash.
Bush will only take advantage of a economic or security crisis to sign onto more power. Bush has in short sowed a culture of fear more so than the highjackers of Sept. 11
Sadly, everyone waits for elections not realizing the Bush forces have had two national elections and many more state elections to perfect rigging them-- Their only worry is how to make them look free and fair.