Johnson Votes Against Constitution; Party Mouthpiece Silent

As I catch up after a busy week (big research poster for Pierre, NFL national qualifying tournament in Sioux Falls, and oh yeah, maybe some homework), I note with interest SD Moderate's commentary -- and Badlands Blue's lack thereof -- on Senator Tim Johnson's betrayal of the Constitution. Senator Johnson backed President Bush's request to extend the federal government's powers to conduct warrantless wiretaps and to grant immunity to the telecommunications corporations who enable Big Brother. (Both Clinton and Obama skipped the vote... grrr!)

As SD Moderate aptly points out, South Dakotans will go ballistic over a perceived infringement of their Second Amendment rights, but when both of our U.S. Senators vote to perpetuate the diminution of the Fourth Amendment, all the rhetoric about the Constitution and the Founding Fathers seems to disappear.

Note to citizens: the Constitutional Amendments aren't numbered in order of importance. Second, Fourth, Fifth, Tenth -- all important, all worth fighting for, all imperiled by our fraidy-cat attitudes ("Osama might get us if the President can't listen to my phone calls!").

Badlands Blue, the Democratic Party's paid blog in the state, remains silent on this unpatriotic vote. Ironically, the afternoon of the vote, Badlands Blue touted Senator Johnson and his wife's receipt of a "Courage" award. The award was for fighting to beat cancer, not to protect the Constitution. Since then, from his comfy, faraway seat in Virginia, Badlands Blue has kept up its gentle pitter-pat of press releases from the Senator's office about anything but why the Senator would help enshrine the Bush legacy of dismantling the Constitution.

Oh well. I'm not hearing any criticism from Johnson's challengers for his Senate seat, either. Sam Kephart doesn't say much on his website, but he sees "tremendous global instability and risk for our homeland." Joel Dykstra warns that the very survival of Western civilization is at stake and that he will do "whatever it takes to keep Americans safe from terror groups."

Somehow, I'm not encouraged. If we keep America safe by living in fear and comprimising American ideals of freedom, then we've done the terrorists' job for them. It's not that hard for bloggers to speak up and say that. It shouldn't be that hard for politicians to speak up and say it, either.