Not a Dictatorship (yet)

I am getting tired of George W. Bush's claim that due to the "war on terror" he can do whatever he wants, including spy on American citizens without judicial oversight. Just because we are in a war (of his own making) he seems to think he has carte blanche to do illegal things. The Supreme Court has said that a war, any war, does not give the President complete and total control. We live in a Democratic Republic, with an ingenious system of checks and balances. No one person or one body can rule the country; it takes all three. Bush seems to have forgotten that.

I read in the paper today that Bush is now trying to get the Congress to retroactively say he has the right to spy on Americans. This whole business saddens me. Why must Bush make such a blatant grab for power? Is he so insulated that he doesn't realize how bad he looks? I think that may be true. I read another article yesterday that said the chief of protocol at the White House was the only person (aside from Laura Bush) who could tell the president he was wrong. That scares me. It means our president is surrounded by "yes men" and doesn't have anyone to tell him the unvarnished truth, if that truth is "You're wrong". No wonder Bush thinks this wiretapping which clearly exceeds the bounds of his power is legal.

Another thing Bush appears to have forgotten is that someday a Democrat will be back in the White House. Any grab for power Bush succeeds at will serve as a precedent for future Presidents of both parties. Does he really want a Democrat to have the same power?

The funny thing is, Bush could probably get permission for all his wiretapping from the secret court. As I understand it, it rarely refuses requests. So he could be doing all of this legally. Why does he have to be so difficult?