If we don't defend the constitution then who the hell will?

As usual, Digby has some pearls of wisdom to offer us:

In this very interesting article in the American prospect, Ruy Texeira and John Helpin offer this thesis: "Progressives need to fight for what they believe in -- and put the common good at the center of a new progressive vision -- as an essential strategy for political growth and majority building." I don't know about you, but I believe in the Bill of Rights. (I actually think it may be the single best thing the United States ever did.)

I know it's unfashionable to talk about rights at this political moment and that we are supposed to pull together and submerge our individual needs for the common good. But I've got to say that I think without a robust defense of the Bill of Rights, there is no common good. They are what allow the minority to participate in the common good. They are what allow the people to be heard and the truth to be spoken so that we can even know what the common good is. They are what restrains government from using its awesome power to repress its citizens instead of using it to promote the common good. In my mind, if Democrats don't stand for the Bill of Rights then they stand for nothing. It's the foundation upon which everything else we do is built.

So, as we go into this election season and we see the shrieking harpies like Bill Bennett and Tony Blankley agitating for the government to repress dissent, I hope the party keeps in mind that while braying about national defense, Republicans are increasingly "standing" for a police state. If we don't defend the constitution then who the hell will?