Letters to the Editor
What Constitution?
Published Letters: 129
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Hey, It Isn't That DIfficult to E-Mail All the Senators
[Read the article: Jay Rockefeller's unintentionally revealing comments]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If there was ever a day when it might actually be possible to influence the US Senate, it seems to me this is as important as anything else -- heck, it's just about whether we as a nation respect the rule of law or not.
So I decided I'd try, for the first time, to send an e-mail to every Democratic senator, using the list Glenn linked to. It was interesting that most all the Senators use a similar auto-fill system that facilitates the process; it took only about twenty minutes to send essentially the same e-mail to all Democratic and "independent" Senators. And hey, did you know that's darn near a majority? Doesn't that matter? Oh. Never mind.
Anyway, here's what I said to our Senators:
"It is imperative that you stand up for the Rule of Law and the fundamental principles of the US Constitution by refusing to enact any FISA bill that provides for retroactive telecom immunity.
If you and your Senate compatriots can't do even this, then just resign. The pitiful failure of congressional Democrats to stand up to the Bush Administration is tragic for the whole country -- but this FISA immunity "issue" stands on a whole different footing. It is utterly DISGRACEFUL to even consider granting such immunity under the structure of American law. Don't do it. Show the American people and your constituents that you respect your oath of office and the Constitution of the United States of America. PLEASE!"
I found it interesting, also, that not one Senator's "drop down menu" to identify "topics" had any entry for "FISA", for "The Constitution" or even for "Privacy". Guess those things aren't important.
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Even a blind squirrel....
[Read the article: More disruptions to the Cheney/Rockefeller plan]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Glenn rightly observes that it is somewhat unique and more than a little bit encouraging that the FISA immunity debate has actually become a "debate" and hasn't just been steamrolled the way most other issues get steamrolled.
The thing is, what doesn't go away about this issue is that it is fundamentally, pristinely clear that it is Unamerican, it is abominable, it is outrageous to suggest that retroactive immunity is a legitimate concept under the Rule of Law.
All the procedural gyrations surrounding this "debate" -- and they have been nothing short of an amazing primer in parliamentary procedure and certainly beyond the grasp of sound-bite journalism -- still cannot bury the fundamental fact that what the Bush Administration is trying to do here is profoundly, indisputably contrary to the concept of the Rule of Law and the structure of our government as laid out in the United States Constitution.
In my view, it is the growing recognition that the real kernal of this debate is the Rule of Law and that the real motivation behind Bush's insistence on retroactive immunity is to create a personal shield for a lawless and dictatorial executive, that has ever so slowing been pulling this debate out of the murky haze of "trust me, we need to defeat the Terra-ists" and is forcing/allowing Americans to look at what we are supposed to be protecting and whether this immunity idea does that.
The more Senator Dodd and his allies stand firm and articulate the pernicious motives and effects of this proposed immunity, and the more Bush apologists are forced to try to actually articulate a competent justification for the demand, the more clear it becomes that there is NO argument that can find any comfort or basis in the United States Constitution which would allow the Bush Administration to immunize itself or those who have abetted it in the flagrant violation of clear provisions of law here. Indeed, the "pro-immunity" arguments are ultimately as silly as they are malicious -- take, for example, the idea that telecoms won't "cooperate" in the future if there's no immunity, which is just stupid since (a) a warrant will elicit cooperation, that's a fact; (b) the telecoms have shown they were never in this for the "good of the country", just for the $, since they interrupted illegal taps if the bills weren't paid....
Great credit goes to the likes of Glenn Greenwald and others who have kept this issue in front of people even when the likes of Joe Klein have been played like a fiddle. Great credit goes to the People who have been moved by the objective obscenity of what's really and plainly going on here, and who have -- perhaps for the first time in their lives -- taken the initiative to contact their representatives in Congress to try to actually do something about this.
I don't know how to "win" this procedurally. I do know that Senator Dodd is just plain right and that the apologists trying to whitewash Bush and Cheney's abject contempt for the Rule of Law ought to themselves be in jail, let alone in positions of power in this country. Who is going to be prepared to go on TV after the State of the Union and beat the living %&1# out of the arguments I expect to hear Bush make about the "importance of immunity"?