Expansion of Presidential Authority

There is an interesting article in the Washington Post on the Bush administration's expansion of presidential power, totally bypassing the legislative and judicial branches. It reads like a progression towards totalitarianism. That is how leaders have traditionally turned democratic governments into authoritarian ones, by weakening the legislature (including filling it with politicians whose policy is driven by deference to the executive branch) and the judiciary. If we continue in this direction without interruption, our democracy will face its worst crisis since Watergate, and the crisis may become worse than Watergate (as John Dean, former counsel to Richard Nixon, has consistently and intelligently argued).

Update: I just realized a situation in American history with more in common to the warrantless wiretaps is Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War, an episode in which a president suspended one of Americans' fundamental rights under guise of a war. In fact, a conservative anti-ACLU blogger has justified Bush's actions:

"Without life, there can be no liberty. Too many are putting trivial things like being patted down at a football game ahead of America’s security. People need to wake up! We are at war.

However, the best way to counter this is to think back to Ben Franklin's advise that

They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security

The civil liberties thrust aside by Bush and Lincoln are important in the struggle to preserve our system of government and there is no threat large enough for these rights to be suspended. If they are, we may remain alive, but we will have lost the character of the nation. In addition, there are other, better, ways to protect the nation and protect civil liberties.