On Presidential Power

As a person with a Master's in public administration and a BA in history, I've followed the emerging revelations regarding the Bush Administration's use of power in the pursuit of it's administrative and political goals. As a student of government, and the history of American government specifically, I've watched the federal government claim greater and greater authority in the name of security, only to see this authority used for partisan political purposes, or even worse, for personal enrichment. Over the last few months, it has become clear that the current administration sees no limit to its authority.

To put it more bluntly, the current government claims to possess unlimited power. This is unacceptable - no government, under any circumstances, should ever have this power. It is never used to protect and defend -- the oath of any federal office holder. It is only sought for the worst reasons. It leads to oppression and suffering. In all cases - history is replete with examples. As a nation, we are on a dangerous and dire path. We must change directions suffer the judgment of history as the generation that failed the great American experiment. Atrios spots this post, which I think is right on the money (referencing testimony given by AG Gonzales to the United States Congress):

This theory, taken to its logical conclusions, gives the President the ability to treat anyone living in the United States, including particularly U.S. citizens, as wartime enemies without having to prove their disloyalty to anyone outside the executive branch. In so doing, it offers him what can only be called dictatorial powers-- that is, the power to suspend ordinary civil liberties protections on his say so. The limits on what the President may do under this theory are entirely political-- the question is whether the American people will stand for what the President has done if they discover what he has done in their name. But if the American people don't know what their executive is doing, they can hardly be in a position to object. And so the President has tried to keep secret exactly what he has done under the unreasonable and overreaching theory of Presidential power that his Administration has repeatedly asserted in its legal briefs and public statements.

Attorney General Gonzales' latest admission should hardly surprise us once we understand how much power the President actually thinks he has. Given that we will probably never know what the President has been doing in our name, we can only hope that he has not actually tried to exercise all the power he (wrongfully) thinks he possesses.

Even worse, a majority of the current Congress will not refute this claim. This is insane. How can the US Congress, historically always jealous of executive power, not rise up in open opposition against such a claim? This should transcend party lines. If the administration ignores the Congress, then every single administration initiative should be ignored by Congress in return. A little belligerence can go a long way. Oh, yea, impeachment articles should be drafted too. And a hearing wouldn't hurt either.

But this Congress won't do that. Even most of the Democrats won't do it. A few, like Fiengold in the Senate and a few others in the House are fighting. But most are afraid of sliding in the polls by supporting something as mild as censure. Well, here's a little news for them - most Americans want someone to put this administrations in its place. If this Congress is unwilling to protect the Constitution, then we need a new Congress that will. The people already see that, and I believe, will act on it.

The seeds of the November revolution are being sewn. Let's hope it's not too late.