Judge, jury and non-executioner

The Boston Globe has this must-read story in today's paper. It's about how a chain of presidents going back two decades has decided to increase the president's powers. The system has de-volved so far that more than one-tenth of Congress' laws can be ignored, and evidence suggests long-passed and -enacted laws can and already are being ignored without judicial oversight.

This story is frightening. It overturns everything you learned about the Constitution in that high-school civics class. That's simply because it overturns major portions of the Constitution. The executive branch is free to say it'll ignore laws appropriately passed by the legislative branch. No appeals process is implied, anyway, but it doesn't matter: The executive branch has already declared it will interpret laws in direct contradiction of judicial branch rulings. Remember those old movies about checks and balances? Forget 'em.

This story is a must-read for anyone who believes in America or the Constitution.