Where did you go, Ben Franklin? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

I've always believed that Ben, although he was actually not such an awesome father to his own children, is the real father of our country. After all, had Benji not blended into French society so effectively, they probably would not have aided in the Revolutionary War, which was what pushed us over the goal. His brilliance is seen all over the Constitution and through the system of our government. Now, those of you who know about my little civics lesson given inside Homeland (seriously, I think it is against all things American to REQUIRE me to give my personal information to receive items at a sale price -- either they are on sale or not.), this is the Benji quote that I fired off at the hip that really put the cherry on top of the crazy sundae. It was at this point that I knew I had scared this poor checker to her core and, without a doubt, would win the nuttiest customer of the day award. But, with that said, it is my favorite. Any man who sacrifices security for liberty deserves neither, remember every day.
This is on my mind particularly this morning after the Democratically controlled House of Representatives sided with Bush the Younger and voted through the new FISA bill, which exempts any telecommunication company who lets Uncle Sam do mass surveillance on law-abiding, tax-paying citizens without the risk of lawsuits. Now, I don't want to hear from anyone about how Democrats are all soft on security or whatever. At this moment in time, I like Georgie in all his dangerous politics more than I like the Dems in the House. At least with George, I've known up front that he thinks he is Big Brother or The Decider, as he coined himself. (Seriously, I thought I was the only one who gave themselves nicknames.) I knew it even before he stole the 2000 election. I knew it the day he named Dick as his running mate. As much as I detested it, I knew it. I've been a student of this country's laws and history since I was a little girl, before I ever even stepped into a class room. So, it was for that reason that I am so adamantly against sacrificing the civil liberties of the entire country to catch a few. Hell, we had plenty of information on the 9/11 hijackers pre-attack, but the guys at the CIA and FBI were busy playing Who Has the Biggest Balls and wouldn't work together. There's just no need for it. If they had done their jobs in the first place, it'd be fine.
But, like I said, at least I knew from the beginning what I was getting with Dub. Even when he was on his Saddam's warning tip with the WMD will be a mushroom cloud tour like an old, aging rock star, I knew that was bullshit. Ask any one of my friends. I'm not saying I have some kind of contact within the government, so calm down neocons. I just have watched politics long enough to know that the sketchy videos Colin took the UN and, for that matter, Georgie rushing to the UN daily pimping this idea like a used card salesmen, just screamed that something else was going on. Now we know there was no WMD and that Saddam, as evil as he was, had nothing to do with 9/11 and that the 7-foot-tall Muslim on kidney dialysis, Osama bin Laden, is still at large.
With all that disappointment, I knew what I was getting. All these new Dems who unseated old, tow the line Republicans and Democrats so conservative they should've been Republicans were elected by the American people to take the country back to the one that Ben Franklin and his brave friends formed from nothing. They were going to strike down the Goliath Big Brother of the last six years. And now this.
So, here you go. I've already given George kudos once this week. And now I am saying that the Democrats in the House who voted for this FISA bill are, at least in this moment, worse than he is. At least with him, I expect this. I know what I'm gonna get. If you are upset about your civil liberties being trampled on, call your Representatives. Let me break this down, they are destroying the Constitution, the same one the gives you the right to bear arms and the freedom to a fair and speedy trial. Now, if you think it is so easy for the government to take a big part of our freedom to speech and privacy, what makes you think that your right to bear your own arms won't be next.