Good riddance, Alberto Gonzales.

His resignation was long overdue.

He disgraced himself and the Justice Department by approving—and then lying to Congress about—the illegal NSA spying program, the firing of the U.S. attorneys, and the shameful torture policy.

If he didn’t resign, he might have been impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.

But I’m not giddy today over this news. No champagne for me.

Because, face it, Gonzales was only doing what Bush and Cheney wanted him to do.

It was Cheney who said we needed to go on the “dark side” in the war on terror, and Bush who said he didn’t want to hear about the “international lawyers.” Gonzales simply was the implementer and the rationalizer.

It was Cheney who pushed the illegal NSA spying program, and who ordered Gonzales over to Ashcroft’s hospital bed. And Bush himself signed off on this illegal spying more than a dozen times.

So Gonzales leaving the Justice Department doesn’t signal any sea change in policy.

Bush and Cheney used Gonzales to turn the Justice Department into a shield for the President, a pump for the aggrandizement of the executive branch, and a wrench for squeezing our rights.

That won’t change now that Gonzales is gone. It may—and only may—change when we have a change at the very top.

Gonzales may now be curbside, but the Bush power grab remains uncurbed.

Until Congress rescinds the Military Commissions Act, until Congress rescinds the new NSA law, until Congress revises the Patriot Act, until Congress challenges Bush’s signing statements, until Congress curbs the use of National Security Letters, the edifice of repression that Gonzales helped erect will still stand.

The issue was never whether Gonzales should stay in office. It’s always been much larger than that.

The issue is whether we are going to be a democracy or not.

And Gonzales’s departure is no guarantee that we’re going to be—or even that we are a step closer to that goal.

At most, it’s an ounce of accountability.

We need a ton of democracy.