Few safeguards of a citizen’s constitutional rights and no real checks and balances from other branches of government... The new America...?

as i noted in an earlier post, george has declared war on the judiciary in order to extend his executive powers to limits heretofore unknown in the united states... robert parry shares his thoughts on bush's claim to absolute executive powers and echoes my own deepest concerns...

In 2006, the United States will be confronted with a stark choice about what kind of country it intends to be, or – in the quaint language of the Founding Fathers – what it will pass down to “posterity.” There is no room left to duck the issues or finesse the facts.

Either the United States will accept a future governed by an authoritarian Executive, with few safeguards of a citizen’s constitutional rights and no real checks and balances from other branches of government, or the American people will challenge the White House in defense of a traditional Republic, where no man is above the law.

George W. Bush has left almost no wiggle room. He has asserted as clearly as any Executive could that he is the law; that he can define his own powers; that the Constitution is whatever he says it is; that Congress can’t constrain him; and that the Courts must not try to “usurp” his authority.

[...]

Since the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Bush has asserted, in effect, that there are no limits on his powers as commander in chief at a time of war, even a shadowy conflict like the War on Terror that may last forever.

[...]

The American people now have two choices: they can accede to Bush’s robust concept of Executive power – that it is virtually unlimited – or they can defend the traditional concept of a robust democratic Republic – that the rule of law applies to everyone no matter how exalted or modest your status.

very, very troubled times for the united states and no end in sight...

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