[Liz]

The abuse of power and trust is one thing. The openly contemptuous departure from functions of government and rule of law is another thing altogether.

Well said.

[rlmorel]

Liz, that part fills me with dread. I have heard it said that our Republic worked because of a sacred covenant between the citizenry and the appointed governors in a Constitutional Republic.

We, as the citizenry, agree to be governed if this covenant is kept.

There are two key parts to that covenant:

1. That the governors are fairly selected in free elections.
   
   
2. That the governors are ruled by the same laws that the citizenry are ruled by.

I feel that both components of that sacred covenant have been despoiled and broken, and as a result, we do not live in a Constitutional Republic any more.

We live in an oligarchy, and all oligarchies will become tyrannical, because that is the nature of unrestricted man.