"When one party seeks to start an illegal and immoral war and the other party does nothing to stop it, even though the blatant lies, deceptions and fictions used to sell the war are known and understood for the chicanery they are, it cannot be said that an opposition exists. When said war turns out to be the greatest strategic disaster in the history of the nation and the so-called opposite party remains silent and indifferent, it cannot be said that an opposition exists. When the Bush administration has proceeded to abrogate the Constitution, Bill of Rights, freedoms, liberties and rights of Americans, and the so-called opposition party stands idly by and in many instances votes to destroy those same principles, (think Patriot Act and its progeny, Military Commissions Act, Habeas Corpus, Posse Comitatus Act, martial law, wiretapping) it cannot be said that an opposition exists. When the Geneva Convention is ignored, torture becomes the new normal and gulags roam the planet, without so much as a whisper of dissent from Democrats, it cannot be said that an opposition exists. "When Democrats chose to remain silent when confronted about the truth of 9/11, when they refuse to acknowledge what really happened, when they ignore the voice of millions who want accountability, when they refuse to call for an independent investigation into the worst act of mass murder in American history, it cannot be said that an opposition exists. When the Republican Party has concocted a fictional war on terror, espousing perpetual fear for perpetual profit, exporting terror and insecurity to America, instilling fear into the American psyche, and the Democrats fail to speak out, act out, and try to stop the madness, it cannot be said that an opposition exists. When the Democratic Party chooses to play politics with the Iraq war, putting the expected attainment of presidential power in 2008 ahead of the lives of thousands of Iraqis and American soldiers, allowing Iraq to disintegrate further into hell in order to secure the presidency and the Congress, creating the illusion that it wants to end the war, yet knowing full well that it will continue well into the future, it cannot be said that an opposition exists." - - - Manuel Valenzuela