Gotta love those Democrats

Where do we begin?

Well, first there's the Dems getting ready to both rubber-stamp Bush's illegal, unconstitutional spying on Americans, but making sure that the telecoms get immunity for the crimes they committed by aiding this illegal spying.

Democrats Ready to Gut the Constitution to Protect Their “Constituents” — The Telecoms by tom Burghardt and found over at www.dissidentvoice.org

Then there's the Dems acting to fully fund more of the war and occupation in Iraq.
Democrats to back down on Iraq war conditions found through a link on www.antiwar.org

" Lawmakers are arranging to send Bush $165 billion in new money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, enough to last for about a year and well beyond when Bush leaves office on January 20.

"It'll be the lump sum of money, veterans (funding) and that's it," said one House aide familiar with the negotiations on the legislation."

The article on the Dems allowing immunity for illegal wiretapping has this quote from the ACLU.

"Allowing phone companies to avoid litigation by simply presenting a “permission slip” from the president is not court review. This is immunity pure and simple because the companies are NOT being judged on whether they followed the law. A document stating that the president asked them to conduct warrantless wiretapping is not enough justification for violating the basic privacy rights of Americans. (”Facts on Senator Kit Bond’s (R-MO) FISA Proposal,” American Civil Liberties Union, June 13, 2008)"


When you read this, what you realize is that what is at stake is clearly and simply whether or not we still operate under the Constitution, or whether we live in a country ruled by an all-powerful executive that can do whatever he chooses. The Founding Fathers based their system of Checks and Balances on the belief that the Congress would work to protect its prerogatives from encroachment by an aggressive President. Instead we see a Congress that is willing to completely abandon its role in the law-making process and just give the President the authority to do whatever he wants.

Anyone who stayed awake in high school civics learned what the proper law making procedure is under the Constitution. A bill is proposed in either House of the Congress. It then has to be passed by both Houses, when it then goes to the President for his signature or veto. Afterwards, its the Presidents role to enforce that law.

The 'law' that is on the books from that process is very clear. Its starts with a Constitution that says we are protected from unwarranted searches. There was a big loophole carved into that law in the name of 'security' by the creation of the FISA act. But even that protected the need for a judge to review evidence to give a warrant, albeit by a secret court.

The President's role is to obey and execute that law. Its not the President's role to independently make a new law when he wants. If the President wants changes, then he needs to go to Congress and ask for them. And its deliberately not automatic and a protection of our liberties that the Congress might choose not to make changes just because the President asks for them.

What we've seen instead is the President just making up the law on his own. He wanted to have the capability to spy on Americans without getting a warrant. So, he just told himself that this was ok. Then, he went to the phone companies and told them he said it was ok. According to this Congress, led by the Democratic majority that pretends to be an opposition party, this is just fine and dandy.

The more I think about this, the more it strikes me that this is just shredding the Constitution. Its removing any protections Americans have against unwarranted searches. And it removes the basic checks and balances that allow all the voices of a democracy to participate in the law making process and instead just tells the President to do whatever he wants to do.

When the talk is of street criminals, we are told we need tough laws and enforcement as a 'deterrent'. What do we see in this case if we look at it this way? If the President decides he wants to in some other way to spy upon Americans or to take away other rights under the Constituion, if he looks at this he has to thing just 'sure, go ahead.' That's the precedent that's being set. Or, if the President is asking some other corporation to break the law, this now establishes the precedent that the President can do that.

And anyone who thought that electing Democrats would either slow this down or stop the war was just delusional. And its the same for this election. Voting Dem is voting for more of the same. If you want something different, its time to elect some different people.