Freedom's Fire, Brightly Burning

Great post by Steve Clemons at The Washington Note:

President Bush: Please Define "Democracy"

(snip)

As reported in the Washington Post today, Bush said:

"This is a limited program designed to prevent attacks on the United States of America, and I repeat limited," Bush said before flying back to Washington after six days cloistered on his ranch in Crawford, Tex. "I think most Americans understand the need to find out what the enemy's thinking.

"If somebody from al Qaeda is calling you, we'd like to know why."

We'd like to know why a Court would not authorize you to listen to that phone call or read that email, Mr. President. Why do you -- as President of the United States -- think that it is OK to systematically circumvent the American justice system? That is the question at hand.

(snip)

Do you know what a democracy is, Mr. Bush? Do you know what checks-and-balances means?

(snip)

You've taken this country into the Orwellian nightmare that we all accused the Soviet Union of promulgating -- and now that has become us. We are spying on ourselves without Constitutional protections and judicial regulation.

That is NOT democracy, though I'm sure that those in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East who are allegedly "learning democracy" from us are taking notes.

-- Steve Clemons

What is scariest to me is that polls are showing that many Americans are okay with being spyed on. (I know, I need to post links to those polls. When I find them I will.)