The reason freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to petition and host of other freedoms are important is that, from time to time, you need to use them.
Democracy isn't a guarantee that everything will be perfect, quite the opposite, but that we have a reasonable chance of rightening a wrong without erecting guillotines on the national mall.
The challenge IMO isn't petitioning Congress, it's petitioning the public to make sure this issue remains on the radar for the upcoming election (Part of that, though, could well be a noisy march on Washington).
That is one reason I wish this leak had happened two years ago, or two years from now, when it could affect the Patriot Act extension vote. The only thing members of congress can do now is try to defund it, because voting to repeal it might be political suicide.
Democracies have emerged from scandal and abuses of power before, so it not actually insane to believe that it can happen again.
Believing that the outcome will be a perfect fairy-tale land of milk and honey, on the other hand, not so much. It's important to keep in mind that victory in this case probably looks a lot like better constitutional oversight of the FISA courts.
Democracy isn't a guarantee that everything will be perfect, quite the opposite, but that we have a reasonable chance of rightening a wrong without erecting guillotines on the national mall.
The challenge IMO isn't petitioning Congress, it's petitioning the public to make sure this issue remains on the radar for the upcoming election (Part of that, though, could well be a noisy march on Washington).