Two welcome insights from readers

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http://www.suntimes.com/news/greeley/638074,CST-EDT-greeley07.article

BY ANDREW GREELEY

The second letter is from David Stewart, the author of The Summer of 1787 (a book about the framing of the Constitution). I had been accused of pretending that I was an expert on the Constitution by asserting that the framers feared a dictator, like George III, more than anything else. Stewart's comment:

''They did intend for the president to be able to use military force on his own in exigent circumstances -- the example they used was to repel an invasion while Congress was in recess. That is why Congress has the power to 'declare' war, but not to 'make' war. There was a healthy fear of the president as potential despot, and no intention to create one by the back door. I do think the principal failure of our modern republic is the overpowering role of the presidency, which has grown from the permanent state of war since 1941 -- first World War II, then the Cold War, now our Middle Eastern ventures. The framers thought Congress would be the most powerful branch, which it was until this permanent state of war emerged and began to shift the powers. Congress could reclaim many of its powers if it had the courage to do so, and were able to explain that absence of war is a terrific way to "support the troops."

Again, precisely. The so-called strict constructionists such as the ineffable Nino Scalia and the sleazy Rudy Giuliani know this. They know that the whole theory about residual wartime powers of the president is mythology, not to say malarkey. Yet the current president has succeeded -- brilliantly, one might say -- in isolating all power in his own person on the basis of that mythology. He has filled the executive with his own incompetent creatures, he has neutered Congress by veto and filibuster and has the Supreme Court in his pocket since it stole the election from Al Gore and gave it to him. He dismisses the polls, which reflect the will of the people, and prepares for war with Iran on the advice and consent of only the vice president (68 percent of the people reject the madness of such a project). Only the military leaders can prevent such a war, but they are a pretty thin basis for hope.