Rulers who seize power by extra-legal means then rule in that manner since they are not beholden to the people for the power. Selling policies is difficult enough for an elected ruler; an unelected one resorts to the most stern tortured loopholes imaginable.

When citizens finally turn against the tyrant and ask why Americans oppose the Iraqi war, Cheney shrugs his shoulders. “So, why should he care what we want? We didn’t elect him. He owes us nothing.”

In that sense, author Ted Rall has noted many of Bush’s violations of the Constitutional order. He included “secret detection and torture, secret prisons, ending habeas corpus (the right to have one’s case heard before a judge), secret ‘signing statements’ (negating laws signed in public), spying on Americans, lying about it to Congress and trying to legalize it after getting caught, destroying evidence, issuing executive orders granting himself the power to declare anyone (without evidence) an ‘enemy combatant’ who could be imprisoned for life or even assassinated.”

Even if the next president promised to end these practices, he or she would be tempted to retain some of those beefed up powers, and even use his old illegal powers to read opponents emails and listen to their phone calls, etc.

Come next January there will be a gigantic mass of mistakes and illegalities for many administrations to overcome.

We must press that first administration to prevent George W.’s many deeds from having any possible appearance of being legal or Constitutional.