Our New Founding Fathers

An article in GMU's History News Network, written by Professor Joyce Appleby and former Senator Gary Hart, calls attention to all the Constitutional Monkey Business being pulled by Bushco in their grab for imperial power.

President Bush has given Commander-in-Chief Bush unlimited wartime authority. But the "war on terror" is more a metaphor than a fact. Terrorism is a method, not an ideology; terrorists are criminals, not warriors. No peace treaty can possibly bring an end to the fight against far-flung terrorists. The emergency powers of the president during this "war" can now extend indefinitely, at the pleasure of the president and at great threat to the liberties and rights guaranteed us under the Constitution.

A valid point, indeed. Is there an end period being discussed for when King George's powers will be reduced back to "normal," constitutionally approved levels? That's assuming, of course, that King George is even subject to term limits at all.

Relying on legal opinions from Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and Professor John Yoo, then working in the White House, Bush has insisted that there can be no limits to the power of the commander-in-chief in time of war.

I picture a little inside joke in the Imperial Palace where King George is informed of the existence of a law or constitutional amendment that explicitly prohibits him from doing something and he calls up Rover and says "I need a way around this law." Karl replies, "Yoo got it," and they both chuckle, knowing the lapdog team of Gonzo & Yoo will provide some speciously reasoned, [il]legal obfuscation, designed to scare the bedwetters in Congress into submission.

A hopeful truth remains:

The presidency possesses no power not granted to it under the Constitution. The powers the current administration seeks in its "war on terror" are not granted under the Constitution. Indeed, they are explicitly prohibited by acts of Congress.

And as the authors say, until the people speak their minds, this administration will continue to consolidate power illegally and perpetuate immoral actions and laws. If our citizens finally rise up on the level they did Saturday over immigration and greater, or if they vote with their conscience now, it may not be too late. If we do not act, Gonzo and Yoo will soon be the architects of our new Konstituion. I'm afraid then it will be too late for civil discourse. I truly fear if this continues, the violence in Iraq is an ominous foreshadowing of things to come here at home.

hat tip to memorandum