Fellow Americans seem amazed when I tell them this, but Abraham Lincoln was the closest the United States of America ever had to a complete dictator. He monitored communications, he shut down state legislatures, he imprisoned Congressmen -- there were so many political prisoners at one point that wags called one of the prisons the "American Bastille"
But, as the author points out, these were temporary measures. The founders knew in time of war that somebody, one person, had to be trusted for a short time to work outside the system as he saw fit. They gave presidents broad mandates. For times of war.
But now politicians have redefined the term "war" to mean just about anything. We have a war on drugs, war on terror, war on poverty, war on damned near anything. In addition, Congress has stopped declaring war, even when tens of thousands of soldiers die.
Finally, we toss terrorism into the mix -- amorphous, quasi-state-sponsored, with no real command structure and nobody ever to surrender. It'll just go on forever. Add that to wartime executive powers, and you've got a freaking problem the size of Kansas. Yet nobody seems to really come out and say it. Media personalities will ask every questions imaginable and not address the huge elephant in the room. Meh.
Lincoln is a strange touchstone. While we encourage or at least tolerate the Czechs and Slovaks to go their separate ways for the mere sake of self-determination, it's heresy to suggest we might be better off with a separate Republic of Texas.
But, as the author points out, these were temporary measures. The founders knew in time of war that somebody, one person, had to be trusted for a short time to work outside the system as he saw fit. They gave presidents broad mandates. For times of war.
But now politicians have redefined the term "war" to mean just about anything. We have a war on drugs, war on terror, war on poverty, war on damned near anything. In addition, Congress has stopped declaring war, even when tens of thousands of soldiers die.
Finally, we toss terrorism into the mix -- amorphous, quasi-state-sponsored, with no real command structure and nobody ever to surrender. It'll just go on forever. Add that to wartime executive powers, and you've got a freaking problem the size of Kansas. Yet nobody seems to really come out and say it. Media personalities will ask every questions imaginable and not address the huge elephant in the room. Meh.