Senate Backs Wiretap Bill to Shield Phone Companies
By ERIC LICHTBLAU 5:07 PM ET
Barack Obama was among the 69 senators voting to broaden government spy powers and give immunity to phone companies that aided in secret wiretapping.
This is the current web story at www.nytimes.com. This is on the front page. What sane person can read that headline, and think - "That sounds okay to me" ?
The Founding Fathers felt that the right to privacy, in both their home and their "letters", was so important that they enshrined that right the 4th Article of the Bill of Rights. A Republic, a government that derived its powers from the people and not from God, was a truly revolutionary notion in 1776. And the way that this philosophy - the natural rights of people to govern themselves and that no one man was above the law - was spread was by letters and correspondence, and then finally a free press. The sharing of ideas, and information, was not only the vehicle of Republican (in the classical sense) ideals, but it was also the bedrock that underlaid those same ideals. The only way a Democratic Republic can function is with an informed citizenry. A citizenry that is only receives its information by newspapers and the media is not an informed citizenry. We who blog know that truth best. Which is why this pisses us off so much.
Having said that - this isn't the last battle of the Constitution. We can either look at this defeat, and stare at it, and rage at it -- or we can pick whatever seeds of victory that we can find from it. Because they are there.
I was amongst those who called on Obama to speak against the bill when it passed the House. I contributed to the ActBlue program that fought against it. And it sucks that it lost - it sucks not only because its a bad bill, but because once again the party I allign myself with folded like a loose deck of cards. Eight months before the asshole W is out, and we're still loosing stupid battles??
But Obama painted himself into a corner. Once he said - rashly, regretfully - that he would support the bill, assured that it was a better bill, he could not in sound political strategy turn around and vote against it. Even after July 4th. Even after the group formed. That McCain was able to avoid being dubbed "Flip-Flop" while it was being painted on Obama in broad strokes makes my head spin. But there it was, entering the consciousness of every half-wit reporter out there. It would pass with or without him. Obama did the politically strategic, sound thing to do. The man is running for President, not to be the next Christ. He's still on our side, and I still want him to be on mine.
But - that is the defeat. Let's talk about those seeds.
In less than 14 days, the group on MyObama to oppose this bill became the largest group on the official group board of the Obama campaign. This FISA bill has been in the local news in Minneapolis/St Paul, both in print and
boob-tube. It has made national headlines, daily, since the House passed the bill. And then that nytimes.com headline. A headline that can serve as no other better litmus test, in my mind. Anyone who reads it, and nods approvingly - I don't want them in my Democratic Party. The vote is over now. But this vote has opened many eyes. They talk about gas prices; but they talk about the phone companies now, too.
I like to think that Bush administration has been the major villains against the Constitution. But the battle to define what our Republic will look like has been raging since it's inception. It has been tough, however, to see every gain that Progressive policies have given us dismantled by the Republican Party's plank of greed, hypocrisy, and narcissism. The Republicans are not yet done.
Be angry today. But wake up tomorrow, and be ready to fight something else. On some other front. Because that is what it's going to take to save this country. This won't be the last assault on our Constitution this year, let alone until Nov 2nd. We can return to it - we really can, that's the great thing about our Constitution - but we have to realize right now that the next fight is coming up.
So, if you feel the need, vent here about FISA. Let it out, no troll ratings will be or should be dealt here. Then come back tomorrow knowing that in this defeat, the seeds of victory have been planted. Our candidate still kicks ass, and my guess is next time - yes, next time he will think a little longer before going against the Constitution.