Let's break down why the FBI raid of Jefferson's office is bad

1. Boldness: everything the Bush Administration has done to date that had questionable legality, has been done in secret. Warrantless wiretapping, the massive call record database, searching reporters phone records for sources, the "secret room" at AT&T for internet spying, torturing of prisoners, the secret prisons, the obscurity of the 750 law-bending signing statements, Plame affair, and the NIE release were all initially secret. Only this raid was done fully in the open, with no deception whatsoever. It, simply put, is frighteningly bold.

2. Profound implication for the American political process: While most of the things I just mentioned do have some impact, the impact of this raid will a hundred times more significant. If this stands, America will become a full dictatorship, it is only a matter of time. When Congress can intimidated, they are basically puppets of the President. We are a separate country from Britain because King George the Third of England (the irony is not lost on me at all) used lock up members of the British parliament. He used to convene their sessions in odd places, and the members had no access to their papers or offices. This is in fact listed as a grievance in The Declaration of Independence:

"He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures."

Senators and Congresspeople cannot operate without research and the ability to store documents for their own record. The President already has signing statements, but they could be challenged in a court, so they are used in only certain areas. With this new power, it does not matter if Democrats reclaim Congress, because the President could intimidate them into passing his legislation.

There are other reasons, but the first two are the most important.

If you hear from a Democrat in Congress that this search wasn't a big deal, they are attempting to move past the Jefferson criminal investigation, so they can use the "Culture of Corruption" to win in November. They are playing politics at the absolute worst time to do so. The offices they win in November might be meaningless if this search stays as a precedent.

Contact your Congressmen and women and Senators, and tell them to support the investigation into the raid by the House. Tell them to ask for an investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee as well.

Yes, the Senators and Congresspeople didn't care much about our freedoms being taken away, but this is so important we can't let that get in the way of stopping this raid.

I don't know why people don't see the seriousness of this encroachment. Gonzales has used Jefferson's alleged criminality as a battering ram, to set precedent that will intimidate members of Congress.

that's what this was all about.