I have a question for you.  What do you do with the bully on the playground?  He taunts and treathens innocent little kids everyday.  He punches them and takes their lunch money.  You try and talk to him to convince him that his way is not a good way to make friends on the playground.  The bully laughs in your face, shoves you to the ground and takes your lunch money.  You gather all the other kids on the playground and you all agree that this bully must stop.  The bully agrees to stop, he even shows sincerity in his voice, but he continues on his bullying ways.  The kids on the playground all gather again and agree, this is our final warning to the bully, stop picking on the kids in the playground or suffer severe concequences.  The bully continues to bully all  the kids on the playground.  NOW WHAT DO YOU DO!!!!!!

The "kids on the playground" urge John Ashcroft to stop attacking his ideological enemies and allow anti-war activists to board airplanes.

It's ironic that you use this sort of metaphor to justify a Republican party that runs the executive and legislative brances in an autocratic fashion (see DeLay, Tom and Cheney, Dick) and tries to blur the checks and balances system to push its agenda through.