After watching the actions of the Senate and the House regarding "The Protect America Act", I've been rapidly losing respect for the blue dogs. Bi-partisanship is not the same as surrendering. The act of making illegal actions retro-actively legal is repugnant to the rule of law, and by granting telecom amnesty that is what Republicans (voting en block) and blue dogs are accomplishing.
During the Clinton impeachment, I don't know how many times Republicans used the term "rule of law". However, they seem to be silent when the actions of a Republican administration engages in illegal behavior and elicits telecoms to participate. They now seek to justify illegal action as a means of protecting us.
A long-standing American principle has been a presumption of innocense. We the people have restricted the government from unlawful intrusion into our lives unless the government can prove their case that the intrusion is necessary. The Bush Administration violated that fundamental paradigm, and the fact that the mainstream press can't understand the significance of the vote on the "Protect America Act". And making retro-actively legal, illegal actions has so subverted our legal paradigms, that I don't know where to begin.
Blue-dog enablement of authoritarian policies has helped undermine our Republic and the basic underlying principles our government has stood for. There was a time when I used to respect and value the blue dogs. That respect is vanishing quickly.
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3 comments:
This is the main integrity-destroying problem with Republicans: they attempt to act according to principle when it comes to their political adversaries, but when it comes to their own, their cronyism can be hard to fathom.
Under GW Bush, Republican rule of law has become 'what ever rule we want is the new law'.
Um, the House refused to pass telecom immunity and went on recess, which means the original 1978 FISA law goes back into effect at midnight tonight. The utterly unconstitutional "Protect America Act" they passed last August will be no more.
They called Bush's bluff this time.
Richard, that is reassuring. One of the few victories we've faced in this drama.
Let's hope that this is a pattern.
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