Happy Constitution Day. Now Let's Reclaim Our Democratic Heritage.

It has been a tough few years for "We the People," as Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI) and former Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) noted last week, commenting on the way the Bush Administration has undermined and disregarded the Constitution.

"It is a sad fact, as we approach Constitution Day, that for the past seven and a half years, and especially since 9/11, the Bush administration has treated the Constitution and the rule of law with a disrespect that I think we've never seen before in the history of this country," Feingold said. "By now the public can be excused for being almost numb to new revelations to government wrongdoing and overreaching."

"I certainly was there for so many of the abuses, and was frustrated by the lack of congressional spine to stand up to this administration, particularly some of the veteran members of Congress who'd been there for years and years, and worked so hard to build this country to the status that we enjoyed at the turn of the century," said Lincoln Chafee, a former Republican senator from Rhode Island. "I don't have a good answer for why that is; I guess we're all culpable - media, Congress, citizens alike - for not expressing more outrage."

The administration has sidestepped the rule of law, thumbed its nose at congressional oversight and attempted to overwhelm the separation of powers, leaving our Constitution - as well as our democracy and our standing in the world - on a precipice.

Wednesday, September 17 is Constitution Day, the anniversary of the first signing of that sacred founding document 221 years ago, a critical moment not only to relearn the content of the Constitution, but to fight for it - to make sure that its laws and values do not continue to erode.

Fired U.S. attorneys, warrantless wiretaps, government-sanctioned torture, "executive privilege" - how did we get here? Power struggles between the branches of government are nothing new; as constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley says, "God knows we've never had a President who didn't want to be Congress and we've never had a Congress who didn't want to be President. The framers had no illusions about the President… who would have an insatiable desire to expand [his] own power."

The Framers enshrined a delicate balance of powers in the Constitution. But the Bush administration has challenged that delicate balance and seized, consolidated and wielded executive power in ways unparalleled in modern American history. The administration has excessively used "state secrets" and executive privilege to shield its actions from public scrutiny; has allowed the torture of prisoners in violation of international law; has politicized the Department of Justice for partisan purposes; and has cited a radical theory about executive power in claiming that the President may "exceed" the law. The list goes on and includes misuse of signing statements, demanding immunity for telephone companies whose violations of the law remain largely secret, and more. The net result is not only a democracy in distress but the distinct possibility that these actions will set a precedent for future presidents and further abuses.

As congressional ethics expert Stanley Brand notes, however, it's a "supine Congress" that allowed such excesses to go unchallenged.

Rather than assert itself, by denying appropriation money, subpoenaing witnesses and documents, or insisting on accountability, Congress let its powers sit idly. Now, in the face of that rare situation in which the pillars of checks and balances and separation of powers have become so weakened, the question becomes: what must be done to fix it? And who has the power to carry out those fixes?

What must be done is threefold; Candidates for President and for Congress must pledge their commitment to restore the constitutional rule of law in the coming term, and if elected, must adhere to that pledge; Congress must pass legislation to fix the breaches in the law laid bare in the past several years, and in so doing reassert its constitutionally-mandated role as a coequal branch of government; Congress and the next President must hold accountable those who broke the law. A fourth piece, of course, is a show of popular support and a concerted push by citizens throughout the country to make sure all three of those remedies are put into place.