Balance of Power
Al Gore believes; it was not necessary for Bush to break the law to protect Americans from terrorism. Faithfulness to the rule of law strengthens our democracy, and ensures that those who govern us operate within our constitutional structure of checks and balances. The informed consent of the governed requires transparency, which insures that executive branch not operate in secret without constraint.
The more powerful the executive branch becomes, the more difficult it is for the judicial and legislative branches to perform their constitutional roles. When, the executive branch goes beyond its constitutionally prescribed role, it’s able to control access to information that would expose its actions. It becomes increasingly difficult for the other branches of government to police it, and once a healthy balance of power is lost, democracy itself is threatened. When the executive branch is unchecked, we become a government of men and not laws.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act does not authorize what the National Security Agency to has been doing, and no one inside or outside the Administration claims that it does. Incredibly, the Administration claims instead that the surveillance was implicitly authorized when Congress voted to use force against those who attacked us on September 11th.
Bush failed to convince Congress to give him all the power he wanted, so he secretly assumed that power anyway, as if congressional authorization was a useless bother. Attorney General Gonzales concedes that the Administration knew that the NSA project was prohibited by existing law and that they consulted with some members of Congress about changing the statute. Gonzalez says that they were told this probably would not be possible. Now the Bush regime argues that the authorization for the use of military force implicitly authorized it all along.
A special counsel should immediately be appointed by the Attorney General Gonzales to remedy the obvious conflict of interest that prevents him from investigating what is a serious violations of law by the President. We have had a fresh demonstration of how an independent investigation by a special counsel with integrity can rebuild confidence in our system of justice. Patrick Fitzgerald has, by all accounts, shown neither fear nor favor in pursuing allegations that the Executive Branch has violated other laws.
The more powerful the executive branch becomes, the more difficult it is for the judicial and legislative branches to perform their constitutional roles. When, the executive branch goes beyond its constitutionally prescribed role, it’s able to control access to information that would expose its actions. It becomes increasingly difficult for the other branches of government to police it, and once a healthy balance of power is lost, democracy itself is threatened. When the executive branch is unchecked, we become a government of men and not laws.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act does not authorize what the National Security Agency to has been doing, and no one inside or outside the Administration claims that it does. Incredibly, the Administration claims instead that the surveillance was implicitly authorized when Congress voted to use force against those who attacked us on September 11th.
Bush failed to convince Congress to give him all the power he wanted, so he secretly assumed that power anyway, as if congressional authorization was a useless bother. Attorney General Gonzales concedes that the Administration knew that the NSA project was prohibited by existing law and that they consulted with some members of Congress about changing the statute. Gonzalez says that they were told this probably would not be possible. Now the Bush regime argues that the authorization for the use of military force implicitly authorized it all along.
A special counsel should immediately be appointed by the Attorney General Gonzales to remedy the obvious conflict of interest that prevents him from investigating what is a serious violations of law by the President. We have had a fresh demonstration of how an independent investigation by a special counsel with integrity can rebuild confidence in our system of justice. Patrick Fitzgerald has, by all accounts, shown neither fear nor favor in pursuing allegations that the Executive Branch has violated other laws.
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