Last year Sen. John McCain explained that “Presidents have the obligation to obey and enforce the laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation is.” He’s right. “I agree with John McCain about the importance of the president obeying the law,” says Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for president.

Unfortunately, Sen. McCain apparently no longer agrees with Sen. McCain. Doug Holtz-Eakin, Sen. McCain’s chief policy adviser, recently contended that the Constitution gives the president unilateral authority to spy on Americans without congressional authority. “Along with President George W. Bush, Sen. McCain seems to believe that the president, like the British king of old, possesses unconstrained and unreviewable power,” warns Barr. “This is a truly shocking claim: when the American colonists created a new nation, they were determined to limit both government and executive power.”

Indeed, if the president can do whatever he deems necessary in wartime, and America is a battlefield, then the executive branch can ignore the entire Constitution whenever the president believes convenient. “This is not the republic under law in which Americans thought they were living,” insists Barr.

Sen. McCain has sought to distance himself from President Bush, but he now sounds like a member of the Bush administration. “The Constitution must come before any political party,” says Barr.

Of course, the government must combat those who would do us ill, but, emphasizes Barr, “the Constitution establishes oversight and accountability for every executive power.” Lord Acton warned us many years ago that “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” It is no different in America. “The next president must reverse the aggrandizement of power to the executive branch and defend the privacy and liberties of Americans from every encroachment,” says Barr.