09-30-2006, 10:08 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-30-2006, 10:15 PM by Swiss Mercenary.)
Quote:You should read up on Presidential War Powers... John Dean -- Presidential Powers In Times Of Emergency is a good article.
Sadly, the difference between the Civil War, WW1, The Great Depression, WW2, and The War on Terror, is that all of those emergencies had a forseeable end (Defeat of the south, Germany, significant drop in unemployment).
I don't think the Supreme Court had in mind when they made those rulings that the President should be able to execrise near-absolute power for 'Emergencies' that will never end.
When there is no such thing as 'Normality', the word 'Emergency' loses any and all meaning.
But then again, we all know that. :rolleyes:
So, in essence, it is precedented... But only in part. It is unprecedented in the sence that unlike any of the conficts/crisis mentioned above, the War on Freedom, I mean, Terror, is never going to end.
The self-preservation part of that article is also not fully applicable. The world isn't going to end tomorrow unless the US converts to an Orwellian totalitarianism, here. Especially when this self-preservation is aimed at preserving a system that is getting to the point of not being worth saving.