We The People Politics

I just read on cnn.com that Barrack Obama has just voted, along with 68 other senators, to pass the FISA bill (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), which dictates exactly how the federal government can eavesdrop on Americans. Now, knowing that Obama specifically said that he would oppose any form of the FISA bill that would grant telephone companies immunity from lawsuits, (even if they illegally spied on US citizens without the required warrant to do so), you would think that Obama would have the courage and the capacity to stick to his principles on this important issue.  

Well if you did, you thought wrong. 

We all know why Obama voted for FISA in the end, of course. One of his biggest weaknesses with American voters is that he’s “too liberal”, and that accusation, whether true or false, has been alienating a good section of the American people from voting for Obama. And the best possible way to ease this claim to an early grave would be to blow the neo-conservative horn of “national security” along side the lively beat of “change” and try to take the middle ground… while sacrificing his ethics upon the altar of victory.

For so many people, Obama has been a beacon of hope and the possibility of a new beginning, where the injustices and crimes of the Bush administration could be wiped clean, and America could grow and prosper from the ashes. Unfortunately for them, they’ve been used and betrayed by a man that had the common sense to vote down the Iraq invasion, but didn’t have the backbone to vote down a bill which he has criticized before. I think it only fair to include a section of Obama’s statement on the FISA bill, in order to see what kind of explanation he has to the American people for selling out on his values and original message:

“(But) I also believe that the compromise bill is far better than the Protect America Act that I voted against last year. The exclusivity provision makes it clear to any president or telecommunications company that no law supersedes the authority of the FISA court. In a dangerous world, government must have the authority to collect the intelligence we need to protect the American people.” 

So essentially, Obama outrightly says that he voted for the bill because it’s “better than the Protect America Act”… which means that he’s perfectly fine with voting for a bill that he knows is flawed and has previously critiziced, just so long as it’s a tad better than another bill the neo-cons push into the Senate. The truth is, Obama knew that his choice was wrong, and contradictory to his previous statements; he simply didn’t care enough to make a fuss about it. Making a fuss means that you have to anger the powerful neo-conservative elite, the same elite that “swiftboated” the Democratic Senator John Kerry and sunk his chances for getting the Presidency. In Obama’s mind, it’s better to kowtow to the elite every so often, and try to appear moderate, than run the risk of sticking out his neck to the chopping block. 

The truth is, America is becoming a 21 century Roman Empire. Think about it; how did the Roman Republic ever devolve into the empire that most of know it as, with emperors nominating their favorite horse as consul, where the senator’s wives were forced into prositution, and the rights of the people were abused and trampled upon? The people of the Roman Republic didn’t just wake up one day and have almost no rights, where the emperor was a god and the judicial system corrupt! It was a gradual process, where the rights and freedoms of the people were eroded away over the years. Like acid spilled on a scientists’ lab coat, it eats at the very fabric of what republics are created for. When I found out that Obama was thinking about sponsoring a Nascar race car, I almost fell out of my seat at the similarities between Roman leaders getting the approval of the people through the games, which included chariot races. (http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/11/preston.nascar/index.html#cnnSTCText)

Is this what politicians are doing now to try to pull the wool over our eyes; to make it seem like they’re “one of us”, or “plebian”, in some sense? We seriously need to wake up, people, and see the slow but sure devolution of the Republic that so many sacrificed their lives for. We have to see that our freedoms are slowly slipping away from our fingertips, and to turn off the TV and actually do something about it. I’m afraid to say it, folks… but the change you hoped for does not reside within this man.