Slow-motion Coup

Much has been written regarding the nearly seven-year effort by the Administration to usurp congressional powers and truncate judicial authority. This, by definition, is nothing more than a slow-motion coup d'etat. Surprisingly, some have apparently not comprehended what is happening. The late Gerald R. Ford was one of these. Now, the former president was never considered a constitutional scholar but one needn't be to see the obvious. Of "warantless wiretapping" (or better, illegal), Mr. Ford said "it surprises me they [Bush Administration] worry that they think they have to do it."
But of course they don't think they have to do it; they intentionally have done it to further their effort, as laid out in the infamous minority report, a detailed argument on unlimited presidential authority couched in the terminology of "foreign" or "international" policy.
And in this context all manner of things have come under the purview of foreign/international policy and--of some importance don't you think?--as it relates to American citizens. A "top" legal aide to Secretary of State Rice, John Bellinger, refused "to rule out the use of the interrogation technique known as waterboarding even if it were applied by foreign intelligence services on US citizens."
We have an administration chock full of people who routinely, arbitrarily, and by intention violate the Constitution as well as international agreements/treaties. And what does our Congress do, the body explicitly tasked with the responsibility of acting as a check on rampant executive power? They comply with a berserker executive branch, whether it's sending Michael Mukasey's nomination to the Senate for a full vote (despite his refusal to call torture torture) or, until a public outcry, including telecommunication immunity in FISA legislation.
And all the while, it should noted, citing "state secrets" as their reason for refusing to release to Congress or the courts documentation supporting their positions.
Then again, when you've decided you need not answer to anyone, you don't. That strategy works in many countries with the form of government we call tyrannical or dictatorial.