by Carla Sutherland

Created on: May 22, 2008

As stated by myself and many others, executive power has it's limits. Most especially in a Democracy. But one must remember that the United States is a Republic, not entirely a Democracy. Yet still, there are supposed to be limits to the powers of the President.

'National Security' is more often than not, used as a scapegoat when it comes to setting someone free when they are illegally held in jail with no charge, receiving information through the Freedom of Information Act regarding issues about the illegal wire-tapping and surveillance of US citizens on US soil, as well as issues dealing with the war in Iraq. It is just another way for President Bush Jr. to step on the rest of the government and the American people and do whatever he pleases. The amount of signing statements he has made is mind boggling. Those are yet another example of him stretching his executive privilege beyond it's limits.

Will he ever be held accountable? Will the end of his presidency come before he is to be impeached? Already in many countries Bush JR and his staff are seen as war criminals and can be arrested without delay, should they step onto their soil. Even in some of the American States, Bush Jr can be arrested by the local police and held for war crimes. And this comes when his approval rating is the lowest that any President in the history of the United States has ever had. But will such action take place? Or will he find some way before the end of his term to thrust his executive privilege fingers and enable himself to not be held accountable for his actions? I'm pretty sure that he has people working around the clock in facing this obstacle.

I worry for the people of the world. I worry for myself. This misuse of executive privilege, this abuse of power, has made the world and the United States a much more dangerous place. There are limits on Free Speech, limits on Freedoms as a whole. We are once again trapped in a time when musicians such as Cat Stevens, the famous singer that penned the song "Cats in the Cradle" is barred from entering the US due to his religion (Muslim) and criticism of the Bush Administration. It wasn't too long ago when John Lennon was seen as a threat to the US during the Vietnam conflict. Bloggers, journalists and the like are also in danger. They are imprisoned, targeted for their writings and reports, and often murdered. A 14 year old girl from California was pulled out of her high school class a couple of years ago by the FBI because she had "Kill Bush" written on her MySpace page. What kind of a world is this, when a president of a so-called 'free' country is afraid of the words of a 14 year old girl and must thereby question and threaten her?

But what also worries me is who will follow in his footsteps? Who will buy the election? Who will stretch or retract the executive powers that Bush Jr has done? Will things get better or worse? Unfortunately we can only wait and see.....

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