Worrying about centralized power is the job of all libertarians everywhere. But not everyone shares this fear of despotism. Sam Tanenhaus, writing in the Wall Street Journal, seeks to demonstrate that Bush is no Imperial President, and neither were his predecessors Nixon, Kennedy, and FDR. They were not imperial or powerful, says Tanenhaus; they were just presidential. The crucial thing to ask about a piece like this is: what is his standard? How can we judge whether a president is imperial or not? There are three forms of presidential imperialism: being belligerent internationally, being intrusive domestically, and running roughshod over … Continue reading Is Bush Imperial?