RIP Democracy

The Senate passed the amendment to FISA retroactively saying that illegal spying is fine if the government tells you so. So now Nixon's famous quote from the Frost/Nixon interviews has been written into law by a Democratic Congress:

FROST: So what in a sense, you're saying is that there are certain situations, and the Huston Plan or that part of it was one of them, where the president can decide that it's in the best interests of the nation or something, and do something illegal.

NIXON: Well, when the president does it that means that it is not illegal.

FROST: By definition.

NIXON: Exactly. Exactly. If the president, for example, approves something because of the national security, or in this case because of a threat to internal peace and order of significant magnitude, then the president's decision in that instance is one that enables those who carry it out, to carry it out without violating a law. Otherwise they're in an impossible position.

There was a time in this country where this quote was held up as the antithesis of the American democratic system of a nation of laws. It was not just wrong, it was abhorrent and unpatriotic.

Now, it's the official government policy. So depressing.