Watergate and the Issue of Executive Power

In some respects, the revelation of "Deep Throat" this week was fortuitous. Sure, the MSM isn't going to discuss this much because they seem fine with having an alpha dog in office, but Watergate was an important turning point for this country.

In the days of Nixon, there was an incredible amount of executive power that a president could yield. After seeing how Nixon used and abused it (outrageously, but nothing like Bush), steps were taken to reduce the amount of power any one person in government could wield.

Most of us were fine with that, but one person who has always brewed about this "loss" has been Dick Cheney and men of his ilk. They wanted all the boundless powers not only returned to the White House but far more power packed in.

How fortunate for them that 9-11 happened, because they were ready with the argument that one man - the president - needed the ability to take action without any oversight. From the Patriot Act to the various antiterrorist measures that again and again aren't being used on a bin Laden or the 911 hijacker types but on regular citizens of this country, we've seen Cheney's vision for unbridled power being amassed in a very few hands come to be.

If 911 had not happened, I doubt we would be in the mess we are today. It's one of the things that makes it impossible to completely dismiss every conspiracy theory about the attacks due to the incredible failures that occurred on 9-11 and how greatly Cheney and Bush "won" power they would not have had otherwise.

Indeed, they have taken the reins and run with it. Bush and Cheney feel they have the power to summarily execute the protections and provisions of the New Deal, even when so many have paid greatly into retirement benefits Mr. Bush wants to take away and spend on tax breaks for Ken Lay (and Dick himself), Star Wars (a plan that is just so terribly bad) and "nucular" power.

If we were smart, we would be telling our elected officials that it is time to take back the powers handed to Bush and Cheney before they can do much more damage. Ah, but our elected officials have become just sheriffs of Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney - no longer representing us but the corporations and the billionaires.