Last week brought an overwhelming concession to the politics of fear from the House Democrats. The Senate sent over legislation to extend the worst aspects of the unconstitutional Patriot Act passed under George W. Bush, without any reforms. Many progressive activists didn’t notice, because the Senate Democrats passed the measure on a voice vote, and slipped it into a Medicare bill where they hoped it wouldn’t be noticed. Only 87 Democrats voted against the legislation to continue Bush’s spy programs against Americans. 162 Democrats joined the Republicans to vote in favor.

Two Democrats who had the decency to take a stand against the Patriot Act were Earl Blumenauer and Dennis Kucinich. They not only voted against the stealth legislation, but spoke out publicly about what had happened as well.

Blumenauer argued that the Patriot Act should be reformed, not simply extended to keep secretive spy programs operating without necessary controls. “We need appropriate tools to pursue terrorists, and we can do this without trampling on civil liberties. Committees in the House and Senate have offered drafts to improve the Patriot Act, and I would urge that we move forward immediately to amend this law,” he said.

Kucinich identified a growing electoral weakness of the Democrats in Congress: In defending the perpetuation of the anti-constitutional agenda of George W. Bush even after Bush has left office, they have become linked with the regressive ideas that anger progressive voters the most. Kucinich explained, “Despite years of documentation evidencing abuse of these provisions during the Bush Administration, the Department of Justice has failed to hold Bush Administration officials accountable for illegal domestic spying by barring any lawsuits to be brought against those officials. Months into this Administration, The New York Times reported that the National Security Agency had ‘intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits,’ and that the practice was ‘significant and systematic.’ Passage of this legislation today continues to make Congress complicit in these violations of our basic constitutional rights.”