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“The Authoritarian Streak in the Conservative Movement” By John Dean, AlterNet. Posted July 22, 2006. The despotic personality types we see in the Bush White House have their origins in the amoral politics practiced by the low-lifes of the Nixon administration.

The following is excerpted from John Dean's new book, Conservatives without Conscience (Viking, 2006:

"Regrettably, empirical studies reveal that authoritarians are frequently enemies of freedom, antidemocratic, antiequality, highly prejudiced, mean-spirited, power hungry, Machiavellian, and
amoral. They are also often conservatives without conscience who are capable of plunging this nation into disasters the likes of which we have never known. Although I have only recently learned the correct term for describing this type of behavior, and come to understand the implications of such authoritarian thinking, I was familiar with the personality type from my years in the Nixon White House."

Continued:

http://www.alternet.org/story/39275/
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Background:

John Wesley Dean III was White House Counsel to U.S. President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973.

He was... the chief counsel to the Republican members of the Judiciary Committee in the United States House of Representatives.

He later... became an Associate Deputy at the office of the Attorney General of the United States in the Nixon administration and later became counsel to the president after the previous holder of this post John Ehrlichman became the president's chief domestic adviser.

Darrel wrote:“The Authoritarian Streak in the Conservative Movement” By John Dean, AlterNet. Posted July 22, 2006. The despotic personality types we see in the Bush White House have their origins in the amoral politics practiced by the low-lifes of the Nixon administration.

The following is excerpted from John Dean's new book, Conservatives without Conscience (Viking, 2006:

"Regrettably, empirical studies reveal that authoritarians are frequently enemies of freedom, antidemocratic, antiequality, highly prejudiced, mean-spirited, power hungry, Machiavellian, and
amoral. They are also often conservatives without conscience who are capable of plunging this nation into disasters the likes of which we have never known.

DOUG
I read the article, and I was amazed. The Neocons are even worse than I thought.

But as bad as the Nixon gang was, the Bush people are far, far worse. Nixon didn't plunge us into a needless war. At least he got us out of one.

You KNOW the situation is bad when we start bringing up Nixon's good points (yes, he did get us out of a needless war, but not until he milked 2 elections out of it ("I have a secret plan...")). Carpetbagger and scalaway were still the two worst things you could call someone (in the South) in my grandmother's day. I guess "worse than Nixon" is the worst you can say in ours. And, yes, the neocons are evil - and of the many definitions of the term "con", the one associated with "con artist" fits them to a T.

LOL! A couple of days ago I read an article blaming "strong" presidents on the Dem faction, and their ardent support of Wilson, Roosevelt, and Truman. The fact is: both factions of the Welfare-Warfare Party are responsible for the imperial presidency. In the process John Calhoun pointed out long ago, the majority ruling faction wants stronger government, the minority faction wants weaker government, and "in a contest so unequal, the result would not be doubtful." Of course, Calhoun was talking about judicial interpretation of the Con, but the point applies equally well here.

Hogeye, you are confusing "strong government" with "strong executive" and, in fact, you aren't defining "strong" as far as government is concerned. Most of our "strong" presidents have been strong from being excellent negotiators with the legislative branch - or being president in a time when Congress is so scared of whatever is going on, they don't do their own jobs and just want to be told what to do.

The point of this post is not strong or weak presidents, but presidents who did or didn't obey constitutional law during their tenures in office. Famous infringers include Jefferson (Louisiana Purchase without Senate ratification), Jackson (Trail of Tears against Court degrees), Nixon (Watergate - illegal wiretapping, coverups, etc), Reagan (Iran-Contra, coverups), and Bush II (illegal war, arrests and holding without due process, illegal wiretaps & other privacy violations, torture, coverups, etc). The last has now earned the extremely dubious honor of being the worst/most criminal in the history of the U.S.

Wilson - creating unconstitutional War Boards
FDR - intimidating the Court into approving an unconstitutional New Deal
Truman - unconstitutionally not getting a congressional declaration of war for Korea

I just find it funny how the Dem faction of the War Party always blames the Rep faction presidents, and the Rep faction always blames the Dem presidents. Personally, I think they're both right.