Render unto Caesar What is Caesar's

And in today's post-9/11 climate, the Bush Administration wants us to render the hallmarks of democratic government: accountability, transparency, and the rule of law. As the NYTs editorial states today, this putsch for an imperial presidency is much the work of VP Dick Cheney.

Virtually from the time he chose himself to be Mr. Bush's running mate in 2000, Dick Cheney has spearheaded an extraordinary expansion of the powers of the presidency - from writing energy policy behind closed doors with oil executives to abrogating longstanding treaties and using the 9/11 attacks as a pretext to invade Iraq, scrap the Geneva Conventions and spy on American citizens.

Fortunately, as the editorial argues, some conservatives are waking up to Bush Administration perfidy and standing up for the Constitution instead of party discipline. Hopefully old-time conservatism -- always suspicioius of government power -- wins out over the new conservatism of evangelicalism where the truth is governed by faith not by skepticism.

The liberal-left needs to seek these old-time conservatives out -- someone like McCain -- and align with them to crush this virulent strain within the conservative movement poised to spread throughout the body politic.