Democratic Congress Give Bush the Go-Ahead With Being a Dictator

If I could vote in the primaries, I'd be registered as an Independent, but unfortunately, that isn't the case, so I am a registered Democrat. With how discontent I was with the direction our country has been heading these past 6 1/2 years, I voted for Kerry in the '04 election and I voted Democrat to Republican at about a 2:1 ratio last November, in hopes that I'd see some changes. On Sunday, the Democratic-led Congress passed a bill allowing President Bush six months (at least), where he can legally wiretap American citizens.

I'm very disappointed in the Democrats for allowing this to happen. I was upset with the Republican-led Congress for the first six years in the Bush White House, but I may be even more upset with the Democratic-led Congress at this current juncture. When will the Democrats (as a whole) grow a backbone, speak up on a certain issue, and actually take a stand and follow through with what they "allegedly" believe? I disagreed with just about everything the Republican majority had to say and pass in the first six years of Bush's tenure, but at least they were usually consistent with their actions and words. When it was the Republican majority, many Democrats were very outspoken on the wiretapping scandal. But, when they're in control of Congress, they give the president extended powers such as what was signed on Sunday?

I'm not just upset with the Democratic majority, but with the federal government as a whole, because we're heading into potentially dangerous territory here.

As Yale Professor and Constitutional expert Jack Balkin has said in regard to the bill, "Apparently 'allegedly helped us stay safe' is Bush Administration code for telecom companies and government officials who participated in a conspiracy to perform illegal surveillance... Because what they did is illegal, we do not admit that they actually did it, we only say that they are alleged to have done it."

Some major news outlets have slammed the Democrats (and rightfully so) for giving Bush these unprecedented powers.

The USA Today had this to say, "A skittish Congress allowed itself to be stampeded last week into granting the president unfettered surveillance power. When it returns to Washington, it should do what it can to make sure that the sun goes down on this flawed measure."

The Washington Post stated, "To call this legislation ill-considered is to give it too much credit: It was scarcely considered at all. Instead, it was strong-armed through both chambers by an administration that seized the opportunity to write its warrantless wiretapping program into law - or, more precisely, to write it out from under any real legal restrictions."

The New York Times reported, "While serving little purpose, the new law has real dangers. It would allow the government to intercept, without a warrant, every communication into or out of any country, including the United States. Instead of explaining all this to American voters - the minimal benefits and the enormous risks - the Democrats have allowed Mr. Bush and his fear-mongering to dominate all discussions on terrorism and national security."

Finally, The Los Angeles Times had this to say, "You know something's wrong with this Congress when a Democratic champion of privacy rights feels compelled to vote for Republican legislation that compromises those rights. That's what California Sen. Dianne Feinstein did last week when she joined a stampede to approve a temporary 'fix' sought by the Bush administration in a law governing electronic surveillance."

Hopefully, these extended powers only last the allotted six months, but I wouldn't place any bets on that. Also, one has to wonder what can be done in these six months to extend the powers even further, which would make the extending or not extending of this grant irrelevant.