The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism by John Nichols

Author:John Nichols [Nichols, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Constitutional, History & Theory, History, Political Science, Executive Branch, American Government, Politics, Law
ISBN: 9781595587350
Google: b6U2GfqsDrcC
Goodreads: 16615593
Publisher: New Press
Published: 2006-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

To McCloskey’s view, the dire results begged a question: “Can it be that that awesome power has once again corrupted the aides and spokesmen for another Republican president?”

Before the year was done, that Republican president would be revealed to have authorized a program of illegal warrantless wiretapping of the phones of Americans that was so disrespectful of the Constitution that it inspired Republican congressman Ron Paul of Texas, perhaps the truest Old Right conservative in the current House, to suggest that Bush’s actions raised fundamental “questions about the proper role of government in a free society.”

While the president’s defenders suggested that he needed to be permitted to cut legal corners in order to defend the country in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Paul was having none of it.

“Of course most governments, including our own, cannot resist the temptation to spy on their citizens when it suits government purposes. But America is supposed to be different,” the congressman explained.

We have a mechanism called the Constitution that is supposed to place limits on the power of the federal government. Why does the Constitution have an enumerated powers clause, if the government can do things wildly beyond those powers—such as establish a domestic spying program? Why have a 4th Amendment, if it does not prohibit government from eavesdropping on phone calls without telling anyone? We’re told that September 11th changed everything, that new government powers like the Patriot Act are necessary to thwart terrorism. But these are not the most dangerous times in American history, despite the self-flattery of our politicians and media. This is a nation that expelled the British, saw the White House burned to the ground in 1814, fought two world wars, and faced down the Soviet Union. September 11th does not justify ignoring the Constitution by creating broad new federal police powers. The rule of law is worthless if we ignore it whenever crises occur.

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