Maybe the question voters should be asking is, "Who would allow the government to continue to spy on private citizens?" Not, "Whom do we want to answer the presidential hot line at 3 a.m. in times of national emergency?"

Forget the campaign fiction, fellow Americans. We have a real democratic crisis on our hands, and worse, the lame duck who currently picks up the red phone could care less.

Here's what you've been missing while transfixed by the mindless cannibalism of the Democratic race:

FBI Director Robert Mueller has acknowledged that the federal government has used national security letters improperly to coerce businesses to release your personal data. Just when you thought that skinflick you watched at your hotel during a business trip was a private matter. Nothing's secret; nothing's sacred.

Mueller testified recently before the Senate Judiciary Committee, presided over by a true believer, Sen. Patrick Leahy.

Mueller was called on the carpet regarding an earlier audit by the Justice Department's inspector general. The audit found that from 2003 to 2005, the FBI used its authority to arm-twist businesses to release private information about thousands of Americans. These letters are without warrant, sometimes without probable cause, and are not subject to court review. But they are official enough to scare the bejesus out of companies and make them rat you out.

Who are these thousands spied upon? Do they know there's a file on them at the FBI? Shouldn't they? Shouldn't we?

Mueller confirmed that the power behind these administrative subpoenas has been abused. These are the documents librarians complained about when the feds asked them to turn over your reading list. Remember?

According to Mueller, a forthcoming report by the inspector general would read like a sequel to earlier audits. This questionable practice, believed to have ceased, recurred. Maybe it never stopped. Don't forget that Alberto Gonzales was U.S. attorney general.

Can we forget about illegal immigrants for once and focus on illegal searches and seizures by agents of our government? We should feel more threatened by domestic spying than the Mexican roofer who wound up in Lubbock looking for work to support the family he left behind.

"Everybody wants to stop terrorists," Leahy said.

"But we also, though, as Americans, we believe in our privacy rights, and we want those protected." Truer words are seldom spoken.

More important than knowing what professional athletes shoot into their bloodstreams is knowing who in government is shooting holes into our Constitution.

What do your ATM statements have to do with bringing bin Laden to justice? How does having the feds know about your abortion help support our troops? Would having the FBI know about a child you fathered with someone other than your wife flush the baddies out of their hide-outs in Pakistan? Why such a big gambling debt, fella?

The same folks who don't want the public to know who was on Dick Cheney's energy task force have the gall to believe they have a right to know how much you're paying at the pump and with what credit card. Talk about the audacity of hype! How about a lengthy discussion about civil liberties before Election Day?

Along with warrantless wiretapping, FISA court circumvention, watersports and extraordinary rendition for terror suspects, the Bush apparatchiks have tossed these national security letters on their anti-democratic extraconstitutional dung heap.

It's nobody's business what you do, certainly not the government's, unless you're suspected of involvement in criminal activities, and even then, a court order is required to dig deeper into your past.

It's unclear whether this information, gathered improperly by the FBI, also was used improperly. Is someone compiling a political enemies list? Surely not.

Incredibly, President Bush seeks immunity from prosecution and civil litigation for telecom companies that aided and abetted this extrajudicial scheme to undermine our civil liberties.

When the FBI used its might, it wasn't right. More than that, it's un-American.

Rhonda Chriss Lokeman (lokeman@kcstar.com) is a columnist for The Kansas City Star. To find out more about Rhonda Chriss Lokeman and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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