Democrats are Pussies

August 7, 2007
Democrats are Pussies

But Congress looked Bush's insatiable quest for power squarely in the eye, unlocked the chicken coop, and said to the fox "here–take anything you want." The changes that were made were subtle, but arguably they gave the Bush Administration even more than it asked for. And from this point forward, any conversation any American has with a foreigner or a person overseas may be snooped upon, no warrants necessary.

Those who expected the Democrats to stand up to this may have gotten a shock. I wasn't shocked at all. Many see a Democrat-Republican divide over the rise of the National Surveillance State, but that's foolish. In Britain, the Labour Party has introduced legislation which arguably did more than even Bush to erode civil liberties (and of course, the Britons had fewer liberties to start with. The American Revolution was about something, after all). What we're witnessing is another demonstration of Lord Acton's famous maxim: those who hold power tend to seek to extend it. At this point, Democrats are nearly giddy with the prospects of recapturing the White House and resuming rule with a solid power base in the Executive and the Legislature. And with this prospect, suddenly the specter of intrusive big government seems somehow far more palatable to them, and America's constitutional system and the rights of the individual citizens are less of a concern.