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Nixon said once[1] in all seriousness: "If the president does it, that means it's not illegal." Reminiscent of Louis XIV: "I am the state." Anything that was a

Nixon said once[1] in all seriousness: "If the president does it, that means it's not illegal." Reminiscent of Louis XIV: "I am the state." Anything that was a threat to the Nixon administration in their view was ipso facto a threat to the nation. 1. http://www.streetlaw.org/en/Page/722/Nixons_Views_on_Presidential_Power_Excerpts_from_a_1977_Interview_with_David_Frost http://www.streetlaw.org/en/Page/722/Nixons_Views_on_Preside...

kirsebaer 11y ago
Nixon advisor John Ehrlichman told a journalist that the main purpose of the War on Drugs was to attack Nixon's "enemies" and that they knew the WOD was based on lies about drugs: > "You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar Left, and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black. But by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did." http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/the-war-on-drugs-how-president-nixon-tied-addiction-to-crime/254319/ http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/the-war-on...
- endergen 11y ago
  I couldn't find that quote in that article. Was it from elsewhere?
- curtis 11y ago
  That quote doesn't appear in the linked article. Did you intend to link to a different source?
  - nl 11y ago
    It appears it was published offline, and the original source is The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-changing Stories. Edited by Larry Smith, Harper Perennial, 2012. See http://waliberals.org/the-ugly-origin-of-the-war-on-drugs/2012/06/21/ http://waliberals.org/the-ugly-origin-of-the-war-on-drugs/20... There doesn't appear to be a copy of this online anywhere I can verify it.
Zigurd 11y ago
The "unitary executive" concept amounts to the same thing should a president choose to simply order all elements of the DoJ to refrain from investigating something. Except it's got a fancy name and some future John Yoo will no doubt lawyer it to suit any task.
baddox 11y ago
> Anything that was a threat to the Nixon administration in their view was ipso facto a threat to the nation. Isn't that now still (or perhaps more so) a well-accepted view in American politics? I have certainly heard arguments that classified evidence of government wrongdoing shouldn't be leaked, because it could strengthen or embolden our enemies. The Abu Ghraib abuse photos were a notable example. That's basically the explicit purpose of most appeals to "national security."
jokoon 11y ago
Well when you're the elected leader of an entire country, it will be a little difficult to prevent him from giving orders. Limited terms, congress and the free press will reduce that effect, but it will still exist. A leader is being obeyed to. That's how things work at their human nature basis.

kirsebaer 11y ago

Nixon advisor John Ehrlichman told a journalist that the main purpose of the War on Drugs was to attack Nixon's "enemies" and that they knew the WOD was based on lies about drugs: > "You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar Left, and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black. But by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did." http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/the-war-on-drugs-how-president-nixon-tied-addiction-to-crime/254319/ http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/the-war-on...

endergen 11y ago
I couldn't find that quote in that article. Was it from elsewhere?
curtis 11y ago
That quote doesn't appear in the linked article. Did you intend to link to a different source?
- nl 11y ago
  It appears it was published offline, and the original source is The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-changing Stories. Edited by Larry Smith, Harper Perennial, 2012. See http://waliberals.org/the-ugly-origin-of-the-war-on-drugs/2012/06/21/ http://waliberals.org/the-ugly-origin-of-the-war-on-drugs/20... There doesn't appear to be a copy of this online anywhere I can verify it.

Zigurd 11y ago

The "unitary executive" concept amounts to the same thing should a president choose to simply order all elements of the DoJ to refrain from investigating something. Except it's got a fancy name and some future John Yoo will no doubt lawyer it to suit any task.

baddox 11y ago

> Anything that was a threat to the Nixon administration in their view was ipso facto a threat to the nation. Isn't that now still (or perhaps more so) a well-accepted view in American politics? I have certainly heard arguments that classified evidence of government wrongdoing shouldn't be leaked, because it could strengthen or embolden our enemies. The Abu Ghraib abuse photos were a notable example. That's basically the explicit purpose of most appeals to "national security."

jokoon 11y ago

Well when you're the elected leader of an entire country, it will be a little difficult to prevent him from giving orders. Limited terms, congress and the free press will reduce that effect, but it will still exist. A leader is being obeyed to. That's how things work at their human nature basis.