Bush Anoints Himself as Ensurer of Constitutional Government in Emergency
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052107 T.shtml
With scarcely a mention in the mainstream media, President Bush has ordered up a plan for responding to a catastrophic attack. Under that plan, he entrusts himself with leading the entire federal government, not just the executive branch.

I followed the links. My initial reaction to NSPD 51 was about the same as when I saw the towers go down--disbelief. To be honest, I'm having a hard time with the veracity of this directive. However, given my experiences going to the county EMS meetings on being prepared for a mass evacuation or something else of the kind needing to move the people of whole counties under the guise of being prepared for pandemic flu (or some other major catastrophe or attack), I am very inclined to believe this.

I hope the importance of this directive is not lost on anyone who cares about our country remaining a democracy.

This Democrat stands for people. The people must come first in every decision and policy. This is what it means in the Declaration of Independence when Jefferson wrote:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [people] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men [people], deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

It is with these principles that the Preamble of the Constitution begins with "We the People..." and then spells out the duties that the government "of the people, by the people, for the people" are to be carried out. The legitimacy of that government is determined by how well it exercises "just powers" "to secure these rights" and achieves "a decent respect to the opinions of [hu]mankind."