So a group of Democrats (in this case, the Democrats in the House) finally got the memo and decided to show that they actually have some stones on them and passed a FISA bill without retroactive immunity in it. This is huge, because everyone (myself included), expected the Democrats to just cave as always and we would be on our way to ensuring that no one would ever know just who got spied on, when, or where. Basically, for the first time in years, checks and balances actually worked and kept powers where they should be.
The thing that has bothered me about the FISA fight is why hasn’t anyone really talked about the potential abuse of these powers if Bush got his way and got retroactive immunity? Let’s not forget that the FISA law was passed in 1978 as a legislative check to executive power after it was brought to light by the Church Committee that Nixon was using the FBI and CIA to spy on Americans he didn’t particularly like (radical groups, Jane Fonda’s mail, etc.). Couple this with the Bush administration’s fervent belief in the Unitary Executive, and it’s not hard to imagine this thing jumping to depths far more unsavory than they already are. More bluntly, what’s to stop them from spying on Democrats, opposing candidates, party faithful who get out of hand, etc? Why stop there? Why not spy on all of us who have things to stay that aren’t flattering to the administration? Even if we managed to find out, what could we do about it since everyone involved has managed to say that they’re not liable under the FISA law. The whole point here is that by taking away our means of finding out about the wiretapping, they’re free to tap anyone they damn well please.
My other thing is this. Isn’t part of the whole “what makes America great” thing the fact that the government can’t just spy on us? The founding fathers were smart enough to know this was needed, which is why we have a Fourth Amendment that protects against exactly this kind of stuff. Once we make it basically impossible to find out if someone is getting tapped, are we still the greatest nation in the world with the most freedoms for its citizens? Are we really any better than all of those foreign countries that we look down upon for it? I think not, and it is on this reason that I applaud House Dems for having the courage to do what their Senate colleagues could not do and get this bill passed without immunity. The greatness that is America lives on for one more day.
