Many conservatives have pointed out that granting unchecked power to this President means that the next President will have unchecked power as well. And the next President may be someone whose values and belief you do not trust. And this is why Republicans as well as Democrats should be concerned with what this President has done.

With these words Mr. Gore demonstrates his continuing failure to understand the modern Republican party.

First, he assumes that the Presidency might some day fall into Democratic (or any non-Republican) hands. We simply don't know that that is true.

There is certainly some evidence to suggest that black-box voting may have made all "voting" a mere fig leaf over a process of selection by a shadowy oligarchy.

Perhaps not - I hope not - but we simply don't know, and are forbidden to know. Which is highly suggestive in itself.

Second, Mr. Gore apparently doesn't realize that the modern GOP has perfected the one-way weapon. A President can be impeached for lying, but ONLY if he's a Democrat. Elections can be stolen, but ONLY in favor of George W. Bush (as made clear, of course, in Bush v. Gore). Absolute power may be given to a President, but if by some chance the Presidency ever goes to a Democrat, you can be very sure indeed that the Republican party will be at the forefront of those demanding that those powers be eliminated. Ironically, the Democrats would almost certainly cooperate in that project.

But when the time comes that a Republican wins again, you can be just as sure that the GOP will do everything in its power to once again crown an Imperial Presidency, untrammeled by any hint of a check or balance.

When will the Democrats learn? Not until they're being placed in concentration camps, I fear. And in the case of some - such as Gore running mate Joe Lieberman - not even then.

I'd like to see an article on what we can expect of post-Roe America. Because, let's face it, Roe is almost certainly history. In the near future, abortion will become effectively unavailable for women in "red" states, at least those who are too poor to travel to an area with more liberal laws.

(I recognize that many American women are already facing that situation due to the restrictions placed on abortion by state legislatures in conservative states, of course.)

So what does the future hold? A rise in back-alley abortions, dead girls with lacerated uteri, unwed young mothers, babies with serious birth defects, etc.? If so, will the media cover the issue, or cover it up?

Will the pro-choice movement reformulate itself as a movement to restore the right to abortion? What might such a movement look like? Was there a similar movement in pre-Roe America?

In fact, it would be very helpful to those of us who don't remember or didn't experience pre-Roe America to have a picture of what it was like. And that would probably be a pretty fascinating article. How about it, Salon?

I'd like to see an article on what we can expect of post-Roe America. Because, let's face it, Roe is almost certainly history. In the near future, abortion will become effectively unavailable for women in "red" states, at least those who are too poor to travel to an area with more liberal laws.

(I recognize that many American women are already facing that situation due to the restrictions placed on abortion by state legislatures in conservative states, of course.)

So what does the future hold? A rise in back-alley abortions, dead girls with lacerated uteri, unwed young mothers, babies with serious birth defects, etc.? If so, will the media cover the issue, or cover it up?

Will the pro-choice movement reformulate itself as a movement to restore the right to abortion? What might such a movement look like? Was there a similar movement in pre-Roe America?

In fact, it would be very helpful to those of us who don't remember or didn't experience pre-Roe America to have a picture of what it was like. And that would probably be a pretty fascinating article. How about it, Salon?

I'd like to see an article on what we can expect of post-Roe America. Because, let's face it, Roe is almost certainly history. In the near future, abortion will become effectively unavailable for women in "red" states, at least those who are too poor to travel to an area with more liberal laws.

(I recognize that many American women are already facing that situation due to the restrictions placed on abortion by state legislatures in conservative states, of course.)

So what does the future hold? A rise in back-alley abortions, dead girls with lacerated uteri, unwed young mothers, babies with serious birth defects, etc.? If so, will the media cover the issue, or cover it up?

Will the pro-choice movement reformulate itself as a movement to restore the right to abortion? What might such a movement look like? Was there a similar movement in pre-Roe America?

In fact, it would be very helpful to those of us who don't remember or didn't experience pre-Roe America to have a picture of what it was like. And that would probably be a pretty fascinating article. How about it, Salon?

My apologies for the triple post. At least one of them was due to a glitch, as far as I can tell; I submitted once, the browser crashed, I restored the text from a copy (I store a copy of all my letters, from painful experience), and posted again.

Sorry!