It's not to late

I was lamenting to myself the other day that I've procrastinated for too long and that now when I get around to reviewing the last book by Molly Ivins - Bill of Wrongs: The Executive Branch's Assault on America's Fundamental Rights - it will be less relevant since President Bush is no longer in office.

Cue AM radio to show me how wrong that thought was. This afternoon I flipped to one of the AM stations and heard a former local anchor who now inhabits AM radio world saying that we now have a President who doesn't care about the Constitution, as evidenced by his appointment of Eric Holder. Apparently, since Holder is in favor of gun regulations that indicates that President Obama does not care about the Constitution.

I find this position utterly bizzare. The previous President believed in a pseudo-legal theory which argued that he had the power to act as a virtual dictator with powers that can not be bound by law or the Constitution, yet self-described conservatives like the local AM radio voice only consider the Constitution endangered when someone favors some form of gun restrictions.

Given Holder's views on the limits of the Executive branch power, even if one is inclined to disagree with his view on gun rights, it's difficult (nigh impossible in my estimation) to not conclude that on balance his appointment is an improvement in regards to safegarding the Constitution. As I've said before, when you start appointing people who don't believe in a president-dictator, that's a step in the right direction.

That the AM radio voice doesn't appreciate this point indicates to me that reviewing Ivins' survey of Executive branch assaults on American liberty during the Bush administration is still a worthy endeavor.