Waxman Interview: Secrecy, Investigations, And How The White House Used 9/11 To “Shred The Constitution”

Thomas B. Edsall, Huffington Post

Henry Waxman:…They use the attack on September 11, 2001, as an excuse to, in many ways, shred the constitution and act unilaterally. The founders of this country viewed with alarm any concentration of power with the wise understanding that, when there’s a concentration of power, it would lead to abuse, it would lead to arrogance, and they wanted to avoid it at all costs. And that was why they came back with a system to provide checks and balances between the three independent branches of government.

Well, the Congress abdicated its responsibility during six years of the Bush administration. Rather than seeing their job as leaders of an independent branch of government, they saw their job as being good Republicans first. And it was such a stark contrast to the way they handled Oversight when Clinton was president. They used it in a very political way then by running after any accusation no matter how small or inconsequential by issuing subpoenas and calling hearings and making wild accusations that turned out to be inaccurate. And when Bush became president, there wasn’t a scandal big enough for them to ignore.
(Original Article)