The Issue Of Executive Power

A reader writes:

You wrote:

"In some ways, this is one of the most important issues in this election after the astonishing power-grab by Bush and Cheney."

That statement is troublingly overqualified.

This is THE most important issue in this election, and in all ways.  Everything else is small by comparison, including Iraq and the GWOT.  Why?  Because those things are purely external threats.  External threats come and go.  The issue of executive power is the only issue in this election that can fundamentally alter the nature of the American state.  If the Bush/Cheney theory is not explicitly repudiated during THIS election as the ridiculous affront to the constitution that it is, we're going to be stuck with it for decades, even after the external threats that gave it currency have faded.  There will always be a new threat to justify, in the minds of some, the unchecked executive.