Under the Patriot Act and other repressive federal laws passed since the attacks on 9/11, if King was alive today, he would probably be under surveillance as a potential "terrorist"; just as he was spied on during the 1960s.

Former Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA), a staunch defender of privacy rights, was slated to introduce Gore via a live video link. But moments after the event began, the link failed. Gore calmly sat in a chair onstage, and drew some laughs as he turned around in his chair after a few minutes to see if anyone in the wings would tell him -- or the audience -- what was going on. At length, Liberty Coalition National Director Michael Ostrolenk clambered onstage from the main floor and delivered a brief introduction.

"The Liberty Coalition is extremely excited that Al Gore is now in line with traditional constitutionalists like Bob Barr," Ostrolenk said in a prepared press statement. "It is crucial that citizens and leaders interested in real solutions and answers lay partisan politics aside and open an honest, principled dialogue on the issue."

Gore, unflappable, thanked Ostrolenk for his impromptu introduction. Then Gore honored Dr. King's legacy by boldly speaking truth to power. In a speech lasting 65 minutes, Gore referred to "power" 62 times, and he made it clear that the power which concerned him most was "an excessive power grab" by the "president" (whose office was mentioned 52 times) and the "executive" branch (mentioned 53 times). Gore cited the Constitution 33 times, and 11 times, he alluded to an "imbalance" of powers against which the constitutional framework provides a bulwark.

Gore criticized the Bush administration's "disrespect for America's Constitution which has now brought our republic to the brink of a dangerous breach in the fabric of the Constitution. And the disrespect embodied in these apparent mass violations of the law is part of a large pattern of seeming indifference to the Constitution that is deeply troubling to millions of Americans in both political parties."

"We have a duty as Americans to defend our citizens' right not only to life but to liberty and the pursuit of happiness," said Gore. "It is therefore vital in our current circumstances that immediate steps be taken to safeguard our Constitution against the present danger posed by the intrusive overreaching on the part of the Executive Branch and the President's apparent belief that he need not live under the rule of law."

Gore faulted the president not only for breaking the law, but for lying about it repeatedly, and for vowing to continue his allegedly illegal actions.

"During the period when this eavesdropping was still secret, the President went out of his way to assure the American people on more than one occasion that, of course, judicial permission is required for any government spying on Americans and that, of course, these constitutional safeguards were still in place. But surprisingly, the President's soothing statements turned out to be false. Moreover, as soon as this massive domestic spying program was uncovered by the press, the President not only confirmed that the story was true, but also declared that he has no intention of bringing these wholesale invasions of privacy to an end."

According to Gore, President Bush's defiance of the rule of law represents the primary threat which the Constitution was designed to head off.

"A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government," stated Gore. "Our Founding Fathers were adamant that they had established a government of laws and not men. Indeed, they recognized that the structure of government they had enshrined in our Constitution -- our system of checks and balances -- was designed with a central purpose of ensuring that it would govern through the rule of law. As John Adams said: 'The executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them, to the end that it may be a government of laws and not of men.' "

Gore called for ordinary Americans to get involved in restoring the constitutional checks and balances to reign in the Bush administration. Gore said that American citizens should make Congressional and judicial oversight of the president's warrantless wiretaps an issue in every Congressional election. He called for Americans to "disenthrall ourselves" from television as our primary source of political information, because television is a medium "more designed to entertain and sell than to inform." Instead, he asked Americans to engage, at the grassroots level, in political discourse based on factual information. This public discourse and free flow of information is necessary, Gore suggested, to counteract an administration that tries "to control the flow of information" and relies on "fear to drive out reason."

Gore also suggested five specific actions to save American democracy:

"A special counsel should immediately be appointed by the Attorney General to remedy the obvious conflict of interest that prevents him from investigating what many believe are serious violations of law by the President. We have had a fresh demonstration of how an independent investigation by a special counsel with integrity can rebuild confidence in our system of justice. Patrick Fitzgerald has, by all accounts, shown neither fear nor favor in pursuing allegations that the Executive Branch has violated other laws.

"Republican as well as Democratic members of Congress should support the bipartisan call of the Liberty Coalition for the appointment of a special counsel to pursue the criminal issues raised by warrantless wiretapping of Americans by the President.

"Second, new whistleblower protections should immediately be established for members of the Executive Branch who report evidence of wrongdoing--especially where it involves the abuse of Executive Branch authority in the sensitive areas of national security.

"Third, both Houses of Congress should hold comprehensive--and not just superficial--hearings into these serious allegations of criminal behavior on the part of the President. And, they should follow the evidence wherever it leads.

"Fourth, the extensive new powers requested by the Executive Branch in its proposal to extend and enlarge the Patriot Act should, under no circumstances be granted, unless and until there are adequate and enforceable safeguards to protect the Constitution and the rights of the American people against the kinds of abuses that have so recently been revealed.

"Fifth, any telecommunications company that has provided the government with access to private information concerning the communications of Americans without a proper warrant should immediately cease and desist their complicity in this apparently illegal invasion of the privacy of American citizens.

"Freedom of communication is an essential prerequisite for the restoration of the health of our democracy.

"It is particularly important that the freedom of the Internet be protected against either the encroachment of government or the efforts at control by large media conglomerates. The future of our democracy depends on it."

Gore ended by quoting Dr. King: "As Dr. King once said, 'Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.' "

We who would honor the legacy of Dr. King and preserve America's constitutional democracy, must stand up for the Bill of Rights; we must speak truth to power, and must commit ourselves to challenging our friends and allies to stand with us, and not sit by in silence while the rule of law is undermined. We must also acknowledge, welcome, and build upon our common ground with our sometime foes -- including those on the other side of church-and-state separation issues. For by discovering and building on common ground with our sometime foes, we can drive a mighty wedge in the religious right coalition. So many religious right leaders have falsely placed their confidence in President George W. Bush, believing that God's unconditional blessing is upon him, and forfeiting their prophetic role of speaking truth to power. Some on the religious right see the power-grab and resulting corruption in the Bush administration for what it is; others either fail to see it, or fear to say anything about it, because they are complicit in it. Reasserting the rule of law is our common ground with those who resist unilateral presidential power; and it is also a wedge that is poised to split the religious right.