Monday, June 6, 2011

Finished (E-Reader): "United States V. Nixon: The Question of Executive Privilege" - Larry A. Van Meter

The "US v. Nixon" document was a very nice summary and discussion of the key issues of the Watergate scandal.  I was only 8 when the break-in occurred, and was 10 when Nixon resigned and remember pieces of the story.  The review is relatively short and points out the key constitutional issues under attack - the basic roles of the three branches of US government - judicial, congressional and executive.  At 10, I certainly hadn't realized the scope of the issues under investigation - e.g. who gets to set the limits of Executive power as outlined in the Constitution?  Can the president re-write the rules and use Executive privilege to cover any excesses?

The whole issue around assigning an independent investigative council raises questions - who gets to "police" the actions of the independent prosecutor?  Obviously in this particular instance, the President has a conflict.

What was actually refreshing about reading this article was how serious all branches were - in the legislature, both parties were taking the actions seriously, with the appropriate gravity.  Would that occur today, in the more divisive environment?  Does it even seem possible that the parties are further apart now than during Watergate?  I can't imagine any independent investigation of Bush Jr. being met with anything buy party-line, partisan responses (with a good dose of Fox "News" thrown in for good measure).  In this review, it seems that party affiliation took a back seat to actual governance - might be a less for politicians in both the U.S. and Canada - the role of governance seems to be distantly placed behind party politics.

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