All Intensive Purposes

Mark Felt reminds us of the abiding wisdom of the framers of the Constitution, and specifically of their vision of dividing the federal government's powers among the three branches, so that by acting according to its own institutional self-interest, each might tend to curb the worst excesses of the others. Felt worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, not Congress or the judiciary, but the principle is the same -- Nixon's abuses of power were not checked, at least at first, by a do-gooder acting out of altruism, but by a government official protecting his own position.

We don't have to admire Mark Felt to appreciate what he did.