What's happened to our guts?

Once again, I am bringing you an article primarily for its title. Gene Lyons wrote it and it's entitled, "Have Americans lost the guts for democracy?" I say, with great sadness, yes. And, to use a biblical allusion, we have sold our birthright for a mess of pottage. Sometimes my grief knows no bounds for I have long considered myself a patriot. I really believe in what America used to stand for.

Here's how the article gets started:

Every time George W. Bush gets caught in a tight spot, he does the same thing : He plays the 9 / 11 fear card, wraps himself in the flag, emits jawdropping falsehoods and all but accuses his critics of treason. So it is with the stunning revelation that the White House has ordered the illegal, warrantless wiretapping of American citizens in brazen defiance of federal law and the U. S. Constitution. If allowed to stand, Bush's actions will have taken the United States a long way down the road to military dictatorship.

Indeed, that's essentially what his legalistic enablers, starting with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Vice President Dick Cheney, argue : that in wartime, the commander-in-chief can take any action he deems appropriate to protect the nation, bypassing Congress and the courts to assert the primacy of the presidency until declaring victory in the "war on terror." As terrorism is not an enemy, but a tactic--a vile, cowardly tactic, but by definition not subject to being defeated--the metaphorical war against it could last indefinitely. And as long as it lasts, the commander-in-chief rules by fiat. Our constitutional rights exist at his sufferance.

If the president, any president, can unilaterally declare the Fourth Amendment forbidding unreasonable search and seizure null and void, why not the First Amendment protecting a free press? Why not the Second Amendment? We can't let terrorists have guns, can we?

Far-fetched ? Today, maybe. Tomorrow, maybe not.

Later Lyons states the following:

But there are a great many Americans who either don't comprehend what's at stake or cannot bring themselves to believe it.

I think most Americans truly don't comprehend what's at stake. The ignorance I encounter is appalling. What were some of these people doing in civics class anyway? Did they even have civics? I remember being absolutely fascinated my senior year in high school with the required civics class even though it was taught by a right wing ideologue who tried to convince us there was a Communist lurking behind every bush. I ignored the propaganda and still was privileged to learn how government actually works. Obviously today most people don't know or don't care. If they did there would be rioting in the streets due to the blatant and egregious violation of the Constitution perpetrated by this administration.