The Bill of Rights is a short but powerful document.
You can read the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights and get a pretty good idea as to what the revolutionaries who founded our country wanted their government to do.
The GOP has always called itself the party that values the Constitution. That may have been true years ago, but it's no longer true. The GOP of the Bush era favors authoritarianism.
The saddest fact of all is that today's Democrats are helping Bush gut civil liberties.
I think things become more clear if you take a look at some of the amendments in the Bill and see what Bush has done. Pretty quickly you can see that Bush is attacking bedrock liberties.
More below.
Here's the Bill, with a few examples of Bush's attacks on its amendments:
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
What BushCo has done: supported religious groups with federal money; threatened reporters with prosecution; muzzled sex ed and contraception efforts in favor of "abstinence only" programs; stymied publication of research when it goes against his personal religious beliefs.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
What BushCo has done: The NSA has been spying on us, en masse, for years. Telephone, email - nobody knows the extent of the spying. All warrantless. The new FISA changes will make this even worse.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
What BushCo has done: Jose Padilla has been in a S Carolina brig for years. He's an American citizen, but was denied access to a lawyer, wasn't told what he was charged with, and still has not been tried. Hamdi suffered a similar fate. Lord knows how many others there are.
Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
What BushCo has done: Bush has given himself the power to seize anyone, anywhere, at any time, and hold the person indefinitely. Without trial. Yoo and Addington created the "unitary executive" idea - and voila! we have a monarch.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
What BushCo has done: We've created a system of gulags to hold and torture prisoners, many of whom, in the opinion of the US military, are likely not guilty of anything. We've legalized torture. Things we prosecuted Japanese war criminal for doing to US servicemen in WWII - such as waterboarding - we now do routinely to captives. We threaten our enemies' children to get information.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
What BushCo has done: Att'y Gen'l Gonzalez says there is no right of habeas corpus. Even though that idea has been a bedrock foundation of individual liberty for almost 800 years.
This is a short list off the top of my head. But it is striking, I think, to see what Bush has done in a few short years.
Muzzle scientific inquiry because you're an anti-intellectual theocrat? Done that.
Engage in warrantless domestic spying? Done that.
Hold Americans in prison indefinitely, without trial? Done that.
Legalize torture? Done that.
If you're in favor of these kind of things then, pretty much by definition, you're not in favor of the USA's form of government.
These are the basics. Once we start fucking with these liberties, we're in really bad shape.