FROM CAMELOT TO A NATIONAL NIGHTMARE

Watergate and its Legacy

TRUST AND FAITH IN GOVERNMENT

“I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed: That government should

do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more.”

- Abraham Lincoln

“All compromise is based on give and take, but there can

be no give and take on fundamentals. Any

compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender.

For it is all give and no take.”

-Gandhi

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH ELECTED OFFICIALS IN WASHINGTON D.C. THESE DAYS?

Watergate Campaign Finance Reform

Federal Election Commission was created Main objective: public

disclosure of campaign financing

Limits on contributions to campaigns for individuals, corporations, unions, and other groups

Limits on campaign spending (struck down as unconstitutional, violation of free speech)

“For every thousand hacking at the branches of evil there is one who is striking at the root.”

- Henry David Thoreau

Citizens United v. Fed. Election Commission

2010 Landmark Supreme Court decision, 5-4 ruling Ruled corporations/unions have First

Amendment Rights, Court overturned limitations on

corporate/individual/union contributions Can now donate unlimited money to

unrelated Political Action Committees or Super PACs

Simply put $ = Speech

1/31/12“So long as wealth can be used to leverage political power, wealth will be used to leverage political power to protect itself”

Lawrence Lessig

Supreme Court Justice Stevens, Dissenting Opinion

"The Court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation. The path it has taken to reach its outcome will, I fear, do damage to this institution.”

Lawrence Lessig: Influence of Money in Politics

How does money corrupt politics?

What obstacles are preventing reform from taking place?

What solution does Lessig offer and is it realistic?

Money doesn’t necessarily mean influence, but it does mean access

Politicians are preoccupied with money, 30-70% of their time is devoted to it, impacts their actions

Not in politicians’ interest to reform Pay to play culture

Consider as you watch… Key ideas

2/6/12

“The view that Nixon was the incarnation of evil is as

wrong as the adulation of his more fervent admirers.”

- Henry Kissinger

“On his way to success he had traveled on many roads, but he had found no place to stand, no haven, no solace, no inner peace. He never learned where his home was.”

- Henry Kissinger

Transgressions of Nixon/Watergate Extending political favors to powerful business

groups in exchange for campaign contributions;

Misusing public funds; Deceiving Congress and the public about the

secret bombing of Cambodia Authorizing illegal domestic political

surveillance and espionage against dissidents, political opponents, and journalists

Attempting to use FBI investigations and income tax audits by the IRS to harass political enemies.

Obstruction of justice, etc.

Growth of the Imperial Presidency Over the course of

the 20th century, the presidency gradually increased authority over Congress Presidential staffs

grew in size Executive branch

acquired a dominant relationship over Congress. Executive agreements

instead of Senate treaties

Military action w/o approval of Congress

Nixon: The Imperial Ruler?

No president went further than Richard Nixon in concentrating powers in the presidency. He refused to spend funds that Congress had

appropriated Claimed executive privilege against disclosure

of information on administration decisions; he refused to allow key decision makers to be questioned before congressional committees

Broadened the authority of new cabinet positions

Escalated Vietnam into Cambodia w/o consulting Congress.

Curtailing the Power of the Presidency The Vietnam War and the

Watergate scandal had a profound effect on the presidency. Congress became

increasingly unwilling to defer to presidential leadership.

Congress enacted a series of reforms to limit presidential power War Powers Act Freedom of Information

Act Privacy Act Congressional Budget

Office

“MY FELLOW AMERICANS, OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER…OUR CONSTITUTION WORKS. OUR GREAT REPUBLIC IS A GOVERNMENT OF LAWS, NOT OF MEN”

- President Ford

Importance of the Media

The freedom of the press does not exist for the private enjoyment and self-esteem of journalists but to keep people—even Presidents—informed. Watergate could be a turning point, after several years of Government hostility and harassment, toward a renewed national perception of why a fully independent press (with its abundant faults and excesses) is essential to the American system.