The idea of having a shadow or contingency government in place as a precaution against chaos should Washington and most of our elected leaders be injured or killed in some unforeseen calamity is not a bad one.
The difficulty I have is that the Bush administration has apparently taken it upon itself to determine the size and scope of this contingency government and to designate who will serve in it and in what capacity without so much as a phone call to most of the leaders of the House and Senate.
Apparently President Bush doesn’t understand that the U.S. Constitution stipulates in no uncertain terms that the executive, legislative, and judicial branches are equal branches. Nowhere does the Constitution even mention a “contingency government.”
If there is a need for a contingency government, then we should by all means have one in place, but it should be created with the advice and consent of Congress (at least the congressional leaders of each party in both houses) and perhaps a justice or two of the Supreme Court chosen at random, not by executive order.
