Things Change. But the Constitution Abides.

The Administration's basic argument in support of patently illegal, warrantless spying on American citizens -- when warrants were quickly and readily available -- is that "9/11 Changed Everything."

Yes: 9/11 changed everything. Foreign nationals killed over 3,000 Americans (and others) on American soil.

But:

The fall of the Berlin Wall and end of the Cold War (15,000 American deaths from nuclear test fallout alone) changed everything.

Watergate changed everything.

Vietnam (47,000 American deaths) changed everything.

The assassination of JFK changed everything.

The atomic bomb (over 200,000 killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki) changed everything.

Pearl Harbor (2,400 American deaths) changed everything.

The Crash of '29 changed everything.

The War To End All Wars (5 million Allied or "Entente" deaths) changed everything.

The War Between the States (618,000 American deaths) changed everything.

The British invading our nation and burning the White House in 1812 (2,260 American battle deaths) changed everything.

Things change. Yet the Constitution abides.