True, there were abuses of power in the past, but as has been pointed out in this thread, the purpose for those abuses was to ensure J. Edgar he would continue to have a job.

DougR, I'm curious to know why you would believe that J. Edgar is all that unusual in his misuse of power in order to protect his job. Isn't that a really big part of the reason the founding fathers of this country created so many constitutional protections and separations of power? Because they knew that it isn't unusual at all for people to behave that way, and that the only way for us to be protected from that sort of thing is through constitutional protections and separations of power?