City Paper: Do you think the press has paid closer attention to the Bush administration's lack of transparency than previous presidents?

John Dean: It definitively has changed. We've got a very secretive presidency; it's too conspicuous to ignore. This is very indicative of authoritarian behavior. Authoritarians do as much as they can to get as much information about the public without the public knowing. They are as opaque and as secret as they can get away with.

CP: Do you fear that the next administration might take advantage of the increased executive power?

JD: I don't care who is elected next time: You can bet that unless something changes between now and then, they are going to start off at that base. The high point of the Bush administration will be the basis of the new presidency, and that will probably true if they are Democrat or Republican, unless this becomes something of an issue.

CP: Why wasn't this an issue in the 2004 campaign, and why isn't it an issue in the current congressional elections?

JD: The Democrats haven't raised the issue because they think it's a process issue and process issues are dull to the voters. Well, I gotta tell you something: Process is the name of the game. The people that have control of the process are the people that win. Unless the American people get wise to what process means, like secrecy, like redistricting, like changing the procedures of the House and Senate, until the alarm goes off ... and people understand the implications of process, they are going to lose their government at some point, or their government as they know it.