You are correct. This is quite stunning. My reaction when thinking about what we've created is "awestruck" -- and I mean that in the initial meaning of the word. It's an amazingly giant cluster fuck.
I don't see a way out, and I believe it's only a matter of time, perhaps only a few years, before the executive starts using this power for political gain.
And then we are well and truly screwed.
ADD: One counter-argument might be that the president can't use this for direct political gain because of all the other laws and structures we've put in place to prevent direct meddling. Believing that is true, which I don't, we're left with an even worse calamity: mid-level managers who will effectively have the power of kings while making 100K per year. As we've seen in many other mid-level management scandals, including the IRS, for the guy getting screwed it doesn't make much difference whether it's the president or some nameless bureaucrat being paid off by the mob who's doing it. Hurts just the same. Still just as bad. In fact, the president directly abusing this power is probably the best of all possible bad outcomes. Gives us one person to blame.
A matter of time? It's already happened. See how documents submitted to the IRS magically appear in the hands of political opponents. See how political opposition was thoroughly disrupted (tea party groups' tax-exempt purgatory + all of the raids and interrogation which followed) while political friends sailed through immediately.
I don't see a way out, and I believe it's only a matter of time, perhaps only a few years, before the executive starts using this power for political gain.
And then we are well and truly screwed.
ADD: One counter-argument might be that the president can't use this for direct political gain because of all the other laws and structures we've put in place to prevent direct meddling. Believing that is true, which I don't, we're left with an even worse calamity: mid-level managers who will effectively have the power of kings while making 100K per year. As we've seen in many other mid-level management scandals, including the IRS, for the guy getting screwed it doesn't make much difference whether it's the president or some nameless bureaucrat being paid off by the mob who's doing it. Hurts just the same. Still just as bad. In fact, the president directly abusing this power is probably the best of all possible bad outcomes. Gives us one person to blame.