If there is no difference in results, what is one "enabling" by ceasing to prefer Dems over Republicans? Much that I've been reading here and elsewhere the last few days is from liberals and/or Democrats saying THEY are bolting. -- Mona

Everyone has the right, the obligation in fact, to speak out when they see injustice. That is what has been going on in the comments this weekend. People are speaking out, sometimes in frustration and anger, against the injustice that seems so obvious to everyone but the Congress. That doesn't mean that people will stop trying to change things. You never quit trying to make things better:

Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. -- Churchill

So it's not about giving up. It's about not going along with what you know to be wrong. The Dems have screwed up -- again. But that doesn't mean it's over. It simply means we all have to try harder.

But you're not, are you?

Don't ask me how. I can just tell.

Essentially, the administration is threatening a terrorist attack anytime they don't get what they want. That is not a good enough reason to throw away our civil liberties.

The Democratic argument seems to be:

"If we do what they say and there is a terrorist attack we won't be blamed."

"If we don't do what they say and there is a terrorist attack they will say it is our fault."

Have you ever heard a more stupid argument?

This administration has no credibility. None. The only thing propping them up at this point is the media. And based on Hiatt's article, that may be about to change.

The Democrats have the majority in Congress. They have the responsibility to preserve our democracy from this rogue administration's illegal machinations. The Dems need to quit making excuses and just do it.

In 2004 and 2005 all of these extremist measures were the byproduct of secret programs that were created by the Bush administration and implemented in a lawless manner. Congress did not authorize them. That is no longer the case. If you look at, for example, the war crimes that the Bush administration committed, and the lawless detention that they imposed on thousands of people, and the enhanced interrogation techniques (i.e., torture) -- That now has legal authorization of the American people through our Congress. -- GG

Our Congress has just passed laws to legalize crimes against humanity. We are now, as a nation and as a government, in willful violation of every international treaty prohibiting war crimes and other crimes against humanity.

It doesn't get much worse than that.

I have been somewhat extreme in my recent comments because the past six years have seemed to me to be about as extreme as it gets, short of a world war or a full-scale invasion of the US by a foreign country or a takeover of our country by a dictator.

That we have reached a state of affairs where the concept of a warrant is considered optional is nearly incomprehensible. The only thing that makes it comprehensible (to me) is the fact that it has happened and is reality.

If I made a checklist of all the things that identified a totalitarian society it would contain items like:

1. secret prisons and/or gulags

2. illegal search and seizure

3. extrajudicial surveillance

4. extrajudicial (i.e., "star chamber") trials

5. disappearing people

6. torturing people

7. political prisoners

8. political assassinations

9. a political bureau (i.e, politburo) or central committee

10. state run media

In the US we now have items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6

Scott Horton would make the case that Alabama Governor Don Siegelman is a political prisoner, his incarceration the result of a Republican orchestrated kangaroo trial. There is also the case of the artist Steve Kurtz, who is facing federal prison for making art (post 9/11) critical of the biomedical industry. So that takes care of number 7.

I'll leave 8 alone.

Whether the partisan politicization of every component of the executive branch constitutes a Republican politburo (number 9) is perhaps debatable. I pretty much have my mind made up on the issue.

State run media (number 10)? Well, the MSM is certainly in the pocket of the Beltway. If it's not state-run, it's the next best thing.

I'm not trying to slam you. I know what a democracy is. What we have at present looks much less like a democracy and much more like an emergent totalitarian society.

Scott Horton spoke the truth when he said that the boot is coming down and it will soon be on our necks.

Whether or not Americans perceive a constitutional and democratic crisis should not be based on the price of gas, home mortgage rates and the quality of TV entertainment.

This constant call for increased security is just too weird for me. As a nation we have been in a civil war, two world wars and a long cold war. We survived with our democracy intact.

After all of that sacrifice and experience, who would deliberately choose to live in a totalitarian society when they could live in a democratic society?

Fear did not make us a free and secure nation. Democracy did.