Warrantless and unwarranted

Benjamin Franklin once commented,

"Those who give up liberty for the sake of security deserve neither liberty nor security."

President Bush has used the threat of terrorism as an all purpose excuse to consolidate power in the Executive Branch. It's really disturbing the number of people I've encountered who feel that it's okay for the president to spy on Americans if it "keeps them safe." Unfortunately, this attitude is a concession to the terrorists themselves who want us to live in a country where people can be thrown in jail without due process; where people can be taken to foreign countries and turned over to their questioners, without having any Constitutional protections. If this is the kind of country the terrorists want us to live in, is this the kind of country we want?

“Bush has repeatedly used the threat of terrorism as an excuse to abridge and ignore civil liberties that Americans have taken for granted. The U.S. system of checks and balances, which in this case requires a special court order to protect Americans from illegal government spying — even during a war on terrorism — has no relevance in the Bush White House.

“Of course, the president has made repeated assurances that Americans’ civil liberties are being protected and that restrictions have been placed on the telephone spying. But these ring hollow coming from an administration that has ignored or stretched the truth whenever it suits its purposes. If you want to spy on Americans without a court order, you ought to at least have a solid base of trust.

“Bush declared the disclosure of the spying program by The New York Times to be ‘a shameful act’ and said that even discussing it ‘is helping the enemy.’

“This is shameful jingoism and has no place in a serious discussion of the proper balance between civil liberties and national security.”
—Editorial, “Warrantless and unwarranted,”
Middletown, N.Y., Times Herald-Record,
Dec. 20, 2005"