To modify and borrow a phrase from Rodney King, if the Bush Admin. would just use the system and abid by the laws in place, I could almost (albiet granted the manufactured and unjust war which helped create the situation we are in) support the administration's efforts to fight terrorism, which is indeed a real threat.
Why such a blatant disregrad for the Constitution, Congress and the laws? As pointed out by many others on this site, many in the Bush Admin. are not conservatives, they are radicals, reactionaries. I don't have any magic suggestions, other than taking back Congress in 2006. I'm just disgusted, dishearted, but as a student of history, I guess I should not be surprised at the apathy of the American public. Even during the Watergate crisis there were Republicans who recognized that Nixon's actions were impeachable offenses. I know it took time for that moment to come, and perhaps it will again. While I'd never support the Bush Administration for too many reasons to list here, if they would just follow the law, I could rest easier and say: While we may disagree on policy, which we can debate and use the political system to promote our agendas on an even playing field, we at least share the same goal in terms of Constitutionalism -- putting it first above all else. I am beginning to come to the conclusion, that many of us here have, that this administration thinks that it is above the law. As I asked my wife this afternoon, after reading the paper, "can this administration have such a blatant disregard for the law?" "Are they really that different?" The implications for an affirmitive answer is chilling.