Our Constitutional Crisis Is Still Casting a Shadow

The abuses of power by the Bush Administration are still going on. Right wing Republicans in Congress still refuse to hold Bush accountable or to uphold their own constitutional responsibility. And so the drift of our democracy continues. Susie Madrak of Suburban Guerilla recently listened to Glenn Greenwald who has been talking on such matters as the NSA domestic spying and other constitutional abuses:

Just got home from hearing Glenn Greenwald speak at a Drinking Liberally event...

(snip)

He communicates a real sense of urgency about our constitutional crisis, pointing out that this administration essentially claims the right to all power itself, something he says is “unprecedented.”

Someone in the audience was complaining that the Democrats have done the same things, and criticized the liberal blogosphere for acting as if electing the Democrats would fix the problem.

Glenn said while it was certainly true that this is not the first president who abused the Constitution, Bush was the first one to attack the principles on which the country was founded, and the first to use it so frequently to claim virtually unlimited power for himself.

Nixon tried the cookie jar defense. Eisenhower took four cookies, Kennedy five cookies, Johnson six cookies: what's the big deal about taking eight cookies? But the US Constitution ain't a cookie. Over a million Americans have died protecting the Constitution and the rights and protections that go with it.