It's time to show Sen. Russ Feingold some heart. He's the only one sticking out his neck and calling the Patriot Act renewal authoriztion bill for what it is: a bill that will not make us safer, only less free.

The Wisconsin Democrat is crusading against the bill, and he finds himself in a familiar place. He has almost no support - and some outright hostility - from his colleagues, just as he did after the Sept. 11 attacks, when he provided the sole vote against the original Patriot Act, just as he did when he was one of the few clear voices against the war in Iraq, and just as he did when he was first in the Senate to call for a reduction in U.S. troops there. As he surveys the debate, Feingold sounds dismayed by fellow Democrats who have given up opposing the bill as an invasion of civil rights.

"If Democrats can't stand up on something like this when the president's poll numbers are 34 percent, I just wonder how much right we have to govern this country," Feingold said in an interview Tuesday. "You've got to show people you believe in something, not just that you're gaming the issues."