When Jeff Greenfield was not long out of Yale Law School and was a regular on William F. Buckley's PBS interview program "Firing Line" he reminisced about the period he had served as a volunteer in the 1968 presidential campaign of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

Greenfield recalled a discussion featuring one of the leading figures of the Kennedy campaign, Richard Goodwin, with younger staffers such as Greenfield.  Greenfield noted the seriousness of Goodwin, assuredly reflecting the view of Kennedy, who also happened to be Goodwin's closest friend, on the subject of presidential power.

The framers of the U.S. Constitution, save Alexander Hamilton and others who believed in the very system being overthrown in America and favored, if not a king, a strong executive, subscribed to the philosophical concepts enunciated by French thinkers such as Montesquieu concerning the importance of limiting power in that branch and dividing it instead.  

The Virginians Jefferson and Madison were staunch Francophiles and believed that, unless checked, an executive dictatorship could well emerge.  Indeed, the elder statesman at Philadelphia's Constitutional Convention, the venerable Benjamin Franklin, when being asked at the conclusion of the final session what kind of government the new nation had, replied, "A republic if you can keep it."

When then Congressman John Tunney was running in the California U.S. Senate primary in 1970, a race which would culminate with his unseating of Senator George Murphy in the November election, he made reference to the still raging Vietnam War as a "mirage."

Tunney used the word to accent what he perceived as a wrong-headed view of the United States being able to resolve conflicts through a continuing military commitment.  The people of Vietnam would see that the best hope for their future resided in linkage to American power.

The Vietnam War ended with over 59,000 U.S. losses.  The foreign losses, counting Cambodia as neighboring offshoot as well as Vietnam, is unknown in any kind of precise calculation but estimated at 2.5 million or more according to some estimates.

The tragic human suffering did not end with the termination of life.  The dropping of Agent Orange to remove the heavy jungle forestation that U.S. strategists were convinced would make it easier to fight a hit and run smaller guerilla force did not deter a determined enemy that engaged and disengaged under its own strategic terms.

Remember when America's politicians running for office proudly proclaimed, "The U.S.A. is not only the greatest nation in the world, but the richest!"

This proclamation was often followed by a moment of remembering World War II when U.S. soldiers fought and died to bring democracy to a war-torn world, where 50 million had died.

That was the U.S.A. then.  This is the U.S.A. now in 2009, after 8 years of Republican dominated rein with George W. Bush the White House resident.

The U.S.A.is no longer the richest nation on earth, but the most indebted country on earth.  This is a massive debt for future generations to pay off if they can.  

With the Bush Administration's chamber of horrors track record, desperate Republican strategists resurrect the Reagan reign of error.

Ronald Reagan boasted about balancing the budget.  Sadly, he wound up tripling the U.S. budget deficit.  Then to salvage his administration's track record, they named the Washington National Airport after Ronald Reagan - Reagan National Airport.

If plunging the nation into deep dept with credit card type budget spending is the criterion, George Bush should definitely have EVERY airport named after him and with good reason.  The so-called conservatives, falsely, of course, the Republican-led Bush Administration has plunged the U.S.A. into a $10 trillion debt.  

So isn't it only logical that if the Republicans honored a president like Reagan who tripled the national debt to be so honored to have an airport named after him, shouldn't Bush with the biggest national debt, greater than all prior debts combined, have EVERY U.S. airport named after him?  

200,000 dead!  2 million displaced!

While the Bush Administration was spending billions to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq, or so those Republican leaders told us, all hell broke loose in a violent sectarian war.  

The most horrifying wars of all are religious wars.  How many of those Republican leaders such as Tom DeLay (former pest exterminator) and Dennis Hastert (former wrestling coach/teacher) were well grounded in historical knowledge of the Dark Ages or of Middle East religion and politics?

Sadly name value, such as Reagan the actor, Schwarzenegger the actor, or Jesse Ventura the wrestler, were all names and careers with which a lot of voters could easily identify.

Isn't it enough that this Republican Administration got us into Iraq?

Isn't it enough that it is now provable there never were those "weapons of mass destruction" that launched us into this bloody spectacle?

Every congressman should be required to have knowledge of the historical background and irrefutable proof of the nation they want to war against as an "imminent threat" to the U.S.A.

Otherwise innocent men, women, and children will be killed in a slaughter spree.