Protecting the democracy that we offer today means several things. It means standing up to a power-hungry executive branch when it violates the Constitutional protections guaranteed to all citizens in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. To argue that only those with something to hide are hurt by illegal search and seizures is facile and dangerous.
Warrantless wiretapping is an unlawful search and seizure and it is wrong -- period.
Protecting democracy means preserving, rather than triangulating, the balance of power envisioned by the creators of the Constitution, so that all three branches of government balance -- rather than override each other.
Protecting democracy means not allowing the writ of habeas corpus to be eroded. It's a constitutionally protected provision that applies to all of us, regardless of whether Homeland Security, the Justice Department and the executive branch approve.
Protecting democracy means making sure that no one group's belief system, religious or otherwise, gets imposed as law on everyone. The Constitution explicitly protects people's right to freedom of expression and freedom to worship according to their own beliefs.
Protecting democracy means protecting the process of voting and making sure that Florida 2000, with its dangling and hanging chads, never happens again. Disenfranchisement by accident or political malfeasance will erode our freedoms to the point where our elections are shams.
Protecting democracy means taking the time to understand the issues and exercising the privilege of voting each and every time there is an election, whether it's for a new select board member, a proposed zoning change, a municipal bond, a state treasurer or president of the United States.
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