As our civil liberties disappear, where are the Democrats?

Nat Hentoff reports:

On October 11, 2001, the Senate was about to vote on the USA Patriot Act. Democratic majority leader Tom Daschle hastily called a caucus of his troops and ordered them not to vote for an amendment expected to come from their colleague, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Daschle knew what Feingold was planning, and if Democrats joined him, Bush would brand the party as unforgivably unpatriotic so soon after 9/11.

Feingold took the floor and said: "There is no doubt that if we lived in a police state, it would be easier to catch terrorists. If we lived in a country where police were allowed to search your home at anytime for any reason; if we lived in a country where the government is entitled to open your mail, eavesdrop on your phone conversations, or intercept your e-mail conversations; and if we lived in a country where people could be held in jail indefinitely...based on mere suspicion that they are up to no good, the government would probably discover and arrest more terrorists... But that probably would not be a country in which we would want to live...."

Recognize any of these changes in your country today? Despite Feingold's words, the Patriot Act passed the Senate 98 to 1.

This year, just before the August recess, enough cowardly Democrats gave Bush and Cheney the votes they needed to pass the Protect America Act of 2007, radically expanding the warrantless surveillance of telephones calls and e-mails when Americans communicate with people outside the country or are called from abroad by someone "reasonably" linked to terrorism.

Do you see much difference between Republicans and Democrats?