David Souter on the danger of a strongman

David Souter, talking to Margaret Warner in 2012, as heard on the PBS NewsHour last night. My transcription:

“I don’t worry about our losing republican government in the United States because I’m afraid of a foreign invasion. What I worry about is that when problems are not addressed, people will not know who is responsible. And when the problems get bad enough, as they might do, for example, with another serious terrorist attack, as they might do with another financial meltdown, some one person will come forward and say ‘Give me total power, and I will solve this problem.’”