2008 is not 1984, or 1933 for that matter.

[SidneyCarton]

Sigh, the lunatic titles we have to put on things in order to get them read today...

After several days of fighting over FISA, I would like to offer an olive branch. The concern, (and I use this word with no snark intended) shown for the Constitution on this board has been gratifying. I truly believe that an overwhelming majority of those who have posted on this board on this subject have a deep and abiding devotion to our Constitution and are heartbroken over the ruin that has befallen our republic in the last 8 years. Several have proposed sending money to the ACLU in order to aid it in the lawsuit being waged against the current FISA bill. This is a perfectly laudable goal, and I highly recommend it to any who have money to give in these difficult times.

It is important to note the difficulty of the times. There have been numerous comparisons to Nazi Germany on this board in the last several days. (Indeed, at times I think Hitler is more popular here than either Obama, Hillary or even Chuggo!) As a student of Modern German History, I would like to weigh in on this subject.

The Weimar Republic had what may well be considered one of the most liberal constitutions in Western history. With certainty it was far more progressive than our own in many respects. Among other things, it protected the rights of organized labor, rights that remain under threat here until this day. But what German Democracy had in its Constitution, it lacked in its national infrastructure. Economic disaster, coupled with internal chaos caused the people to lose faith in Democracy. The civil liberties they had been granted did not fill their bellies, grant them employment, or protect them from chronic paramilitary violence that roiled the nation during this period. Hence the appeal of the Nazis. If nothing else, Hitler offered stability, prosperity, law and order. Under such circumstances, with the middle class ruined, chaos in the streets (much of which Hitler admittedly was the cause of) and an uncertain future, the German people sold their civil liberties cheaply to the monster who promised to feed them.

Over the last eight years our Constitution has taken a series of continuous body blows from the Bush Administration. Despite many arguments to the contrary, Bush and Cheney are not Hitlers, but some of the greatest thieves in the history of the world, who (along with their cronies) have looted our treasury and left our national infrastructure in ruins in order to line their own pockets. All of their anti-democratic measures have effectively been created in order to help them steal. At the same time, the economic policies of the Bush cabal have created a far more insidious undermining of American democracy. Democracy is fragile, it depends on a middle class and economic and social stability. With massive privatization, and slashing of the public revenues, social stability has broken down. At the same time the housing bubble, coupled with credit card debt, high gas prices and outsourcing have slowly, but surely drained the Middle class. People now face an uncertain future, knowing they stand only a paycheck away from living under a freeway overpass.

Under such circumstances, the 4th Amendment, despite its sacred and essential nature to our freedoms, becomes less than important in the eyes of many, as it neither fills the gas tank, puts food on the table, or pays the mortgage. We are on the road to ruin, we have not reached Fascism yet, but unless we turn this nation around soon, a majority of Americans will sell what ever remains of their civil liberties to whatever monster promises to feed them. McCain will not be the American Fuhrer, but his campaign promises a continuation of the Bush policies. 2008 might not be 1933 all over again, but 2012, or 2016?

For these reasons, our best hope is to vote for Obama, in the hopes that he may at the very least slow our descent in to the abyss, and assist in our greatly needed national turnaround.