The fiasco surrounding embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and White House ties to the firing of eight U.S. attorneys is reminder of how fragile a democracy is. The executive branch is given great power and that power corrupts. It is no more clear when the power is used to rout political opponents or simply those who disagree politically with the executive.

Looking at the glass half full, perhaps America benefits in some small way from electing presidents that abuse powers. We test our system of checks and balances, and the voters again learn to be more careful with who gets executive power.

Looking at what needs to be done, it is time for Congress to reduce the power of the presidency for this administration and future administrations. America was founded after witnessing the abuses of a king; our country works best with a limited executive branch.

President Bush has earned his low popularity by leading this country through one scandal after another. He embarrasses the Republican Party and hurts its candidates chances in elections. The Democrats don&8217;t like it either. They are troubled over the present state of U.S. politics and the Bush-created problems they have to fix.

And the voters, well, the term &8220;scandal fatigue&8221; fits.

It&8217;s plain ridiculous: going to war in Iraq on bad intelligence about weapons of mass destruction, documents on yellowcake uranium from Niger easily proven false but mentioned in State of the Union, failure to catch al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, destruction of America&8217;s standing in the world community, lack of federal aid to Hurricane Katrina victims, exposure of a CIA agent, Scooter Libby&8217;s perjury, torture in Abu Ghraib prison, Guantanamo Bay prison conditions, shirking Geneva Convention rules for inmates at Guantanamo Bay and unidentified locations around the world, botching the first post 9/11 terrorism trial of three Detroit men, all things relating to Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, Veep Dick Cheney&8217;s conflict of interest with Halliburton, Halliburton overcharging the Pentagon, Halliburton winning no-bid contracts, &8220;Mission Accomplished,&8221; Jack Abramoff and K Street lobbyists, improper care for wounded veterans, horrible conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital, lost U.S. cash in Iraq, unauthorized State Department trips to Taiwan, wiretapping the United Nations, wiretapping citizens without judicial permission, Dick Cheney keeping the work of his energy policy task force a secret despite laws to disclose the work, Justice Antonin Scalia refusing the recuse himself from the task force case despite hunting with Cheney, Cheney shooting a hunting companion, destructive environmental policies, bogus Medicare video news release, planting softball questions with questionable reporters at press conferences, putting commentators on the payroll.

It&8217;s almost unfathomable, and it is clearly disgraceful. We need to reign in executive powers.