Liberal College Kid

Today, the “Democratically controlled” Senate voted to legalize the President’s warrant-less spying program, with 18 Democrats siding with the unanimous Republican party. In addition, the Senate also passed retroactive immunity for all of the telecommunications companies (AT&T, Verizon, etc.), protecting them from any legal ramifications that may have occurred because of their blatant law breaking and greed.

The precedent that this law sets is absolutely chilling. Those members of the Senate that tout their devotion to the Constitution have trampled all over the Fourth Amendment that protects US citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures, and they have spit on the power restrictions that the Founders intended to be put on the President.

They have awarded multi-billion dollar corporations for breaking the law by protecting them from prosecutions and ensuring them government money to help them spy on Americans. The President and his allies claim that if these telecoms are not given immunity, then they may be hesitant to break the law for “the good of America” in the future. These are the same telecoms that cut off the “necessary” wiretapping programs when the government was late in paying them. These companies have no interest in the common good of the country, only in fattening their wallets, which, if the House decides to pass the renewed FISA bill, will become much easier.

When President Richard Nixon was exposed for his involvement in the Watergate scandal by the Washington Post, the nation was horrified and the Congress joined them in their outrage. Today, our leaders, selected to represent the American citizens’ interests within the government have decided to, instead of punishing an outlaw President, manipulate the laws in order to make his actions in the past (and now, inevitably in the future) legitimate.

Those of us on the left believed that when the country elected enough Democrats to hold a majority in Congress civil liberties would be protected and there would be at least an attempt to challenge the abusive and illegal tactics used by the Bush administration. But they have betrayed their constituencies and the nation (with some notable exceptions, like Sen.’s Dodd and Feingold, who have been valiant in their resistance here). They have set in motion events that will strip us of all the liberties provided for us and put us onto the slippery-slope leading an authoritarian police state.

I would like to go on about this breathtaking, terrifyingly myopic decision, but I think that Glenn Greenwald has a much firmer grasp on the situation. He has been covering this ongoing struggle within the Senate for a while now, and I urge you to look over his work, both from today and over the last few weeks. On today’s post, he has a link to a petition you can sign to be sent to the House Representatives, asking that they do not allow this bill to go through.