Keeping one's eye on the ball!

With all the excitement surrounding the primaries, let's not lose sight of the central issue:

New FBI privacy violations confirmed
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer
5 March 2008
WASHINGTON - FBI Director Robert Mueller says an upcoming Justice Department report will show the bureau improperly used national security letters to obtain personal data on Americans during terror and spy investigations.

From time to time I will return to the nominal central theme of this blog:

Restore the U.S. Constitution as the Supreme Law of the Land!

The Executive, given unlimited power, will abuse that power.

I believe W and his gang have deliberately sought expanded powers with the intent to abuse them, but the observation is more general. Any Executive - even an enlightened Democratic Administration - will abuse unchecked power.

This observation is related to a post below which suggests that demonizing SS leaders misses the point. The point is that even normal, healthy, sane individuals can commit unspeakable crimes.

In the context of this post, even an enlightened, well-intentioned Executive can - and almost certainly will - abuse unlimited power. The abuse derives from the power, not from the particular folks possessing the power.

The Framers recognized this. The Bill of Rights contains specific protections against this anticipated abuse of Executive power. We subvert these protections at our peril!