Have Americans lost the guts for democracy?

Great editorial from Gene Lyons at the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

...See, there have to be reasons the administration kept its actions hidden. Right now, we don’t know what they are. But we do know that Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who had personally prosecuted al-Qa’ida terrorists, refused to sign off on White House wiretaps, as apparently did former Attorney General John “Let the Eagle Soar” Ashcroft. It’s up to Congress, the courts and a hitherto easily intimidated free press to find out why. Under Gonzales, the Justice Department now plans to investigate the whistleblowers who exposed Bush’s defiance of the rule of law. A more upside-down situation can hardly be imagined. How can this great nation have been brought to such a pass by a few thousand stateless fanatics hiding in caves ? Have Americans still got the guts for democracy ?