The sudden turn-around by the Republicans who once recognized a crime when they saw one leads to another, much more disturbing possibility. The spying program is geared to the lives and families of the very decision-makers that the People rely upon.
"Two committee Democrats said the panel -- made up of eight Republicans and seven Democrats -- was clearly leaning in favor of the motion last week but now is closely divided and possibly inclined against it."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
I have seen the sudden turn-arounds with many of the players of this national crime against the constitution. Notice the vehemence of television personalities once aligned with the "free marketplace of ideas," as opposed to their aggressive (and over-compensating) behvaviors of late: Are these the Americans upon which the NSA has tuned their spying eyes?
Imagine the senators Snowe, Hagel and Rockefeller, all with a normal everyday family tension somewhere--an impending divorce, a secret love affair, a possible tax evasion--the garden variety "sins" of ordinary citizens. These tensions become a different animal, once discovered through spying! And, imagine the weight of the senators' responsibility toward family and friends, as opposed to the more abstract "People," who didn't really elect them anyway--the ballot box is controlled by the same team who does the domestic spying.
This scenario is no longer an abstract fiction, no longer a black and white art picture from the sixties. It is no longer a question of how weak the Democrats are in the house and senate. It is no longer a question of "government."
It is a historical trend, with tentacles effectively spreading down to the hysterical "keepers of the faith," who fire teachers for their civics lessons on the Constitution, or the science teacher's lessons on Global Warming.
We will soon be witnessing the "Dissapeareds" and watching our own "free internet" sliced up into parcels of desireable real estate.
These are the daily lessons learned as a 13-year old, about the old regimes of the USSR, except they are happening in the once Good Ol' US of A.
The game is reduced to letting out the free range animals into a narrow chute where the hunters can shoot at will and still call it "sport."
The "land of the free, home of the brave," is history.