One of my biggest fears

One of my biggest fears, a fear that's been growing throughout the course of this administration, is the fear that even once we rid ourselves of the Thuglican government and have elected Democrats in their place, we won't have ridded ourselves of the Bush legacy, particularly his usurpation of Constitutional powers.

It's in the nature of people in power to want as much power as possible. Our founding fathers knew that. That's why they created the separation of powers and the deliberate competition between branches of government.

Now that Bush has paved the way to government of the executive branch, by the executive branch and for the executive branch, his successors will inevitably want to follow in that path, be they Democrats or Republicans.

That means they'll continue to push for warrantless surveillance, for the power of the president to imprison anyone on his/her say so alone, to wage war without Congressional consent, and on and on. The "unitary executive" is probably here to stay.

I fear the damage is permanent, and that we've lost everything that made this country great.

I hope I'm wrong.