We're All Suspects
As our civil liberties disappear, where are the Democrats?
by Nat Hentoff
September 11th, 2007
On October 11, 2001, the Senate was about to vote on the USA Patriot Act. Democratic majority leader Tom Daschle hastily called a caucus of his troops and ordered them not to vote for an amendment expected to come from their colleague, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Daschle knew what Feingold was planning, and if Democrats joined him, Bush would brand the party as unforgivably unpatriotic so soon after 9/11.
Recognize any of these changes in your country today? Despite Feingold's words, the Patriot Act passed the Senate 98 to 1.
This year, just before the August recess, enough cowardly Democrats gave Bush and Cheney the votes they needed to pass the Protect America Act of 2007, radically expanding the warrantless surveillance of telephones calls and e-mails when Americans communicate with people outside the country or are called from abroad by someone "reasonably" linked to terrorism.
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