Again, consider Glenn Greenwald, and by his linkage, Christy Hardin and Russ Barnes (Apostropher).

Now I said during the primary that I never viewed Obama as a messiah. And that I expected after the November election, an Obama victory would not mean we could say “Good; now we can rest.” If you expect that you’re either a rookie, misguided or snorting Ajax.

The FISA bill is the pre-election demonstration of what I meant. Don’t just sit there feeling despair. Do something about it. Join in the fight.

And be prepared to stay in the fight. This politics stuff isn’t for slackers looking for easy answers and permanent birdies tweeting. It will always be a fight. Even if it feels safe someday, someone’s sure to fuck things up again the moment you take a breather. This ain’t no convenience store and Obama’s no Salvation Army.

WE collectively wield enormous power. But that means I’ve got your back and you’ve got mine. So guard it well and no excuses.

As for the specific issue this time, I have to wonder why so many Americans so readily are willing to accept the loss of the Fourth Amendment. After all, as Lara Logan and Steve Benen point out, (and I STRONGLY encourage you to watch Logan’s segment on The Daily Show for its full impact) war coverage has fallen to dismal levels by the networks. What’s up with that? Not only have most missed the news that we lost more troops in Afghanistan than in Iraq LAST MONTH, but the MSM doesn’t cover the recurring stories about the military spawned lies and coverups.

What’s really going on is we’re suffering from war exhaustion. We want the war to be over and in the meantime, let’s not talk about that gory stuff.

Last November, Lily Hamourtziadou wrote at Iraq Body Count:

“Those of us who opposed this war and the long occupation that followed hold our political leaders responsible for the horrors of Iraq. We sometimes blame our soldiers. We always blame the terrorists. But we are reluctant to blame our nation or ourselves. “We can continue to blame the Bush administration,” writes Frank Rich, “but we must also examine our own responsibility for the hideous acts committed in our name in a war where we have now fought longer than we did in the one that put Verschärfte Vernehmung on the map.” We cannot simply ‘look the other way.’

We, who have lost very little, who have sacrificed very little, who have paid very little, we ‘turn the page,’ to use Rich’s phrase, and we continue to speak of ‘our’ war, of ‘our’ fight against the terrorists, ‘our’ ideals, ‘our’ kindness, ‘our’ courage; things that we value far more than the lives of millions of others, people whose deaths do not hurt us, whose loss does not affect us, and whose sacrifice we do not see bloodying our own hands.”

And if this is where we’re at as activists - sick to death of the war - then where is the larger public about all this? They aren’t clamoring for more of the missing news. They’d rather ignore the bodies and blood, blame it on Bush, get it over and move on.

So why in hell does that same public say “go ahead and wiretap us, let the lawbreaking corporations off the hook, kill the Fourth Amendment”? Are they really buying the BS that it’s keeping us safe? From what, since they’re so unconcerned about the war?

That’s the real conundrum. They think the war’s contributing nothing to us all but they remain ready to give up a crucial right, for NOTHING??!!

It’s learned passivity that’s afflicting us. “We don’t want the details, just make sure you keep us safe, what time does ‘Desperate Housewives’ come on?”

Pogo was right: “We have met the enemy and it is us.”

So, in addition to lobbying your legislators, add another task. Email a couple dozen of your passive friends and family and start being a royal pain in the ass. Tell them blood is on their hands, too. Tell them they’re selling out the Constitution by accepting its theft passively. Ask them if they really are that eager to experience the Soviet way of life by allowing the invasion of the government into their homes.

That’s what it’s going to take, pissing people off. Passive sellouts of America’s freedoms. Too cowardly to defend the Constitution.

Ask them how many dead soldiers and dead Iraqi civilians will they accept before standing up? How may guaranteed rights will they surrender? Which freedoms do they plan to leave their children, ANY OF THEM??!!??

We are all complicit if we don’t carry the fight and push others to join us. It’s a life-saving task: up you up to it?