Friday, June 14, 2013

The Executive Branch Is Growing More Powerful at Democracy's Expense

"And so the charges of the hysterics are revealed for what they are: castles in the air. Built on misrepresentation. Supported by unfounded fear. Held aloft by hysteria. On this and every other tool provided in the Patriot Act, charges of abuse of power are ghosts unsupported by fact or example."
- Attorney General John Ashcroft, Sept. 18, 2003
George W. Bush took a lot of grief from civil libertarian critics about the terms of the Patriot Act, passed shortly after 9/11, and his use of it. Today, it's clear the critics were wrong. The way the law has been applied is not as bad as they said. It's way worse.

http://reason.com/archives/2013/06/13/the-executive-branch-is-growing-more-pow

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