I’ve reached my limit. I have officially had it with the Democratic Party. Oh, there are some fine Democrats: Lynn Woolsey, Russ Feingold, and Dennis Kucinich. As a group, however, the Democrats have become the wimpiest, weakest group of worthless whiners I could imagine.

For me, it all boils down to the Military Commissions Act, and the way that the Democratic Party has decided to deal with the Constitutional crisis it creates. They’ve decided to pretend that it doesn’t exist.

The Military Commissions Act is the most dangerous legislation in living memory. It takes away the Magna Carta’s habeas corpus guarantees. It ends enforcement of the Geneva Conventions. It legalizes torture. It wrecks our legal system by creating a system of trials that makes a mockery of all modern standards of justice. It gives the President of the United States carte blanche to throw people in prison without any explanation, much less any criminal charge.

All this is about the be signed into law by the President of the United States, and yet the Democrats are quiet about it. Why? Well, see, lots of Democrats in Congress voted for it, and the Democratic Party wouldn’t want to hurt their chances for re-election. For the Democratic Party, winning elections has become more important than doing the right thing.

The Democrats say that it’s a matter of electability – the lamest excuse that I’ve ever heard of. It’s also an insult to the voters. The suggestion is that the American people really don’t want their freedoms, and will vote against anyone who tries to defend the Bill of Rights. Therefore, we’re told, the Democrats have no choice but to join in the Republican attacks against our freedoms.

This is the excuse that supporters of Democrat Michael Arcuri are using. Michael Arcuri has come out in full support of the Military Commissions Act, saying that, if he were in Congress, he would vote for it himself.

Michael Arcuri’s supporters admit that the Military Commissions Act is a terrible law that threatens our democracy. But, they say, they’ll still vote for Michael Arcuri, even though Arcuri has been supporting the law. Why? Electability, they say. Why, I even had one supporter of Michael Arcuri tell me that the only way to fight the growth of fascism in America is to support Michael Arcuri. True, the supporter said, Michael Arcuri supports laws that allow for the growth of fascism, but Arcuri is, after all, a Democrat.

This is what the Democratic Party has come to: Supporting new fascist laws so that Democratic politicians can get elected, and then, hopefully, once they’re in office, do a 180 degree reversal and oppose the fascist laws that they supported before. It’s sad, but many Democrats really believe that this is the best strategy. Unfortunately, a Democratic politician elected on the basis of support for attacks on freedom will only learn one lesson: That attacking freedom is a surefire formula for political popularity. If you think that Democratic politician will change ways after being elected to Congress, you’re fooling yourself.

Yet, we keep on hearing the excuse of electability, as if it really has validity. For example, Global Politician writes describes the Democratic supporters of the Military Commissions Act in the Senate as “Twelve Democrats, most of whom face reelection in November…”, as if running for election explains why 12 Democrats in the Senate joined the Republicans to vote for the Military Commissions Act.

It’s a load of bull. Let’s take a look at just one of those 12 turncoat Senate Democrats as an example: Bill Nelson of Florida. Senator Nelson is up for re-election, that’s true, but he doesn’t face a strong challenge. His opponent is Katherine Harris, whose weird style of campaigning has made her look so insane that Senator Nelson has been leading by double digits in the polls for months. The more that Katherine Harris campaigns, the more Floridians decide not to vote for her.

In short, Senator Bill Nelson doesn’t face a real threat from Katherine Harris. Senator Nelson doesn’t need to vote for Republican legislation to become more electable. Senator Nelson could have done the right thing and voted against the Military Commissions Act without worrying about electability, but he chose not to. Senator Nelson chose to vote for the Military Commissions Act, and that decision cannot be explained away as mere political maneuvering. It was pure right wing ideology on Bill Nelson’s part. Senator Bill Nelson is a dangerous Democrat, because he really believes all the bull that the Republicans have been spewing about how America’s freedoms are hurting the so-called “war on terror”.

Increasingly, Democrats are abandoning the progressive roots of their party, and joining the Republicans in a full-body embrace of right wing ideology. That right wing ideology increasingly is founded upon an agenda of American nationalism.

This is serious stuff, readers. We’re talking about a move toward American totalitarianism, and many Democrats in Congress are quite willing to go along with it.

It’s not enough to just vote on the Democratic Party line. You need to do some homework first, to see what kind of Democrat is running for Congress in your district. If you’ve got a right wing Democrat like Michael Arcuri or Bill Nelson, you might want to consider a third party alternative, like Mike Sylvia in the case of Mike Arcuri, or Brian Moore, in the case of Bill Nelson.

Or, if those candidates don’t satisfy you, you might want to consider writing in a candidate of your own choice… or just choosing not to cast a ballot in that particular election at all. Above all else, Democrats who embrace right wing Republican nationalist ideology do not deserve the support of Democratic voters.