"In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution." - Thomas Jefferson

As I detailed in part one of this article (see "America's Shadow Government: Part One," River Cities' Reader Issue 706, October 15-21, 2008), the next president will inherit more than a financial catastrophe when he assumes office. He will also inherit a shadow government - an authoritarian regime that is fully staffed by unelected officials, fully operational, and ready to take over the running of the country at a moment's notice.

One of the most devastating indictments of the manner in which political "science" courses are taught in our colleges and universities today is the muck of contradictions that passes for the notion of a "political spectrum."

A "spectrum," according to Webster's, is defined as "a continuous range or entire extent." Observe that this definition does not designate the identity of the phenomenon, but only the manner in which it makes its nature manifest: a varying characteristic that forms a sequence of intermediate values between two opposing extremes.

Without those two opposing extremes the concept of a "spectrum" collapses into insensibility: one would never speak, for instance, of a rainbow with two red edges, or of a thermometer with a boiling point at each end.

As we are all now aware, the $700-billion bailout has become the law of the land. A lot of people are, understandably, upset about this and are pointing out the flaws of this legislation: that it is, ultimately, unfunded; that it rewards failure and penalizes success; and that it represents an increase in government's control over the economy unseen since the Great Depression.

All valid arguments, of course - and totally irrelevant: Such critiques miss the crucial point completely.

Every four years about this time, news stories start to appear about the Electoral College, the constitutionally established system we use to elect the president of the United States. Invariably, pundits use this season to lambast and ignore the important role the Electoral College plays in preserving our republic. Recently the attacks have gotten worse, and they have even convinced four states (Maryland, New Jersey, Illinois, and Hawaii) to enact legislation to do away with the Electoral College. Nationally, U.S Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida) has introduced legislation to abolish it.

But before we discard the Electoral College, we need to understand its importance. As President Lyndon Johnson said of the Electoral College, "Our present system of computing and awarding electoral votes by states is an essential counterpart of our federal system and the provisions of our Constitution, which recognize and maintain our nation as a union of states."