Surveillance State, Torture State, Terminal State

As we continue our national metamorphosis from a nation of laws to an intrusive, abusive and Constitution-discarding state, we're left to ponder the whys and wherefores of our descent into darkness.
The Senate yesterday passed legislation to expand warrantless surveillance and grant immunity to the telecommunications companies that illegally participated in warrantless surveillance from at least the onset of 9/11, if not before.
As reported by the NY Times, Sen. Leahy's (D-VT) view of it was that "some people around here get cold feet when threatened by the administration."
Michael Sussman, a former Justice Department attorney, said "this is a dramatic restructuring" of the law, "and the thing that’s so dramatic about this is that you’ve removed the court review. There may be some checks after the fact, but the administration is picking the targets."
That was followed today by a Senate ban on "interrogation methods," or torture, such as waterboarding that are not permitted under Army Field Manual. The vote, however, did not carry a veto-proof majority and President Bush has promised a veto of any such legislation, saying it "would prevent the president from taking the lawful actions necessary to protect Americans from attack in wartime," even though torture is illegal and a war crime. (emphasis added)
Sen. McCain (R-AZ) voted against the ban although he'd earlier said of waterboarding, "all I can say is that it was used in the Spanish Inquisition, it was used in Pol Pot’s genocide in Cambodia, and there are reports that it is being used against Buddhist monks today ... it is not a complicated procedure. It is torture." (McCain sponsored the 2006 Detainee Treatment Act which prohibited waterboarding; nevertheless, the Bush administration, as the Washington Post put it, "maintained that the law did not apply to the CIA and other intelligence agencies, leading to today's vote.")
Yet today, McCain chose the "presidential" path and reversed himself.

And so here we are. There are some in Congress, such as Sen. Feingold (D-WI), who still have clarity of thought and character.
On the torture ban: I made my position clear. I could not support the CIA’s program on moral, legal, or national security grounds. When I was finally fully briefed on the program, it was clear that what was going on was profoundly wrong. It did not represent what we, as a nation, stand for, or what we are fighting for in this global struggle against Al Qaeda. And it was not making our country any safer .... I also concluded that if the American people knew what we in the Intelligence Committee knew, they would agree.

And from Sen. Dodd (D-CT) on warantless wiretapping legislation:
I have seen some dark days in this chamber; in my mind, one of the worst was September 28, 2007: the day the Senate voted to strip habeas corpus and tolerate torture. Today, February 12, 2008, is nearly as dark: the day the Senate voted to ensure secrecy and to exempt corporations from the law. Frankly, I’ve seen a lot of darkness in recent years, as one by one our dearest traditions of Constitutional governance have been attacked.

And from Scott Horton, lawyer, Columbia Law School lecturer, and Harper's contributer: If things proceed on the course now set by the Bush Administration and its shortsighted collaborators, and the national surveillance state is achieved in short order, then future generations looking back and tracing the destruction of the grand design of our Constitution may settle on yesterday, February 12, 2008, as the date of the decisive breach.

How did we get to this point? Fear, I suppose, is the leading explanation, the one suggested by Sen. Leahy. But it isn't just the fear of another terrorist attack only, it's fear of political opposition, fear of the rhetorical skills of persuasion ("soft on terror") by one's opponents, fear of businesses with unholy lobbying clout.
Ultimately, though, these explanations serve to mask something darker--the cowardice and, essentially, contempt of the political class for its own and the nation's integrity.