Dan said: They are usually created in gray areas. The biggest extension of
Presidential power was from 1860-65. The second biggest one was from
1932-45. With the exception of pushing the button, no president from Truman
on had FDR's power. After Nixon's excesses, presidential powers were
reduced ~1974-80."
I note that both times is was during times of national crisis. The only
pre-Lincoln precedent was John Adam's Alien & Sedition Act which was
post-crisis but while the national identity and course were still being
firmed up, and it was pretty promptly rejected.
As for the national government turning into witch-hunters, I can think of
three times in our history previous to ours and every one of them came at a
time when a foreign revolutionary movement was giving us serious panic
attacks, as one is today:
The Alien & Sedition Act on the heels of the French Revolution.
The Palmer Raids on the heels of the Russian Revolution.
The McCarthy Era, after we'd had it proven to us that Stalin was gobbling
down as many chunks of Eastern Europe as possible and who knew where he
would stop?
And of course today's Clash of Civilization., when jihadists seems as great
a threat as any of the ones listed above and are operating much the way we
imagined the Communists did in the 1950s. (And for all I know, they did. But
very few people were really listening.)
Pat
http://idiotgrrl.livejournal.com/
"Habeas Corpus Is Sooooo 1215"
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