The best line in the controversy over the Bush Administration’s spying on U.S. citizens came from Russ Feingold, D-Wis.: “He’s President George Bush, not King George Bush,” Feingold said. Exactly.

The republic was founded by Americans who revolted against the sort of monarchial power wielded by King George of England back in the late 18th century.

The president’s defense of his actions seems to be that he needed to do what he did in order to protect citizens of the United States.

No he didn’t.

Bush could have done exactly what he did by following the law, which was carefully written to provide oversight by a secret court to prevent the sort of abuse that can happen when the executive branch of government’s power goes unchecked.

The current controversy erupted after the New York Times revealed last week that the federal government has been spying on citizens in secret since shortly after Sept. 11.

At any one time the government is eavesdropping on about 500 citizens in the United States anonymous sources in the government told the Times. The program has produced some successes. In 2003 a naturalized U. S. citizen who had met with Osama bin Laden pleaded guilty to charges that he intended to aid al-Qaida by researching the possibility of destroying the Brooklyn Bridge with blowtorches.

As conservative George Will opined in a column in Tuesday’s Journal Star, where President Bush erred was in ordering the wiretaps without the “complicity of a court or Congress.”

Legal experts say that current law even had a provision to eliminate the delay entailed in seeking a warrant. Federal law allows the president to order a wiretap immediately as long as he seeks a warrant from the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court within short order. The secret court was established specifically to provide a check and balance against executive abuse of power.

Although some defenders of the administration’s actions say that a few members of Congress were informed about the wiretaps, this apparently was not done through formal channels.

To some Americans the current debate over whether the Bush administration has unwisely encroached on civil liberties may seem legalistic and technical.

After all the Bush administration doesn’t seem to have done anything that harmed anyone.

The problem, however, is that if the executive branch of government is granted unchecked authority it can easily grow over time into abuse of power. Back in the 1960s the Federal Bureau of Investigation spied on citizens and occasionally obstructed the civil rights movement.

The potential for abuse by a government official wielding absolute power is more than theoretical. Our country’s founders knew that only too well. Have we forgotten?