Unwarranted Searches
Here's my problem with the President illegally wiretapping people. There is nothing in any federal law that says that he's allowed to conduct unreasonable searches and seizures, and so explicitly abridge the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. This is the sort of stuff that we revolted against King George III over. It's true. Just look in the Declaration of Independence. But that's not my problem. My issue is, how can you draw the line between warrantless searches and unwarranted searches?
You can't. There is no difference. Since 1978, the federal government has gone to the FISA court for secret warrants over 20,000 times. They've been refused precisely 5 times. This President is not willing to let the searches he orders receive that level of scrutiny. When the President can order anyone's privacy be invaded for any reason, or no reason, or mere dislike, or whim, or fiat, we are not living in a democracy any more. And whether people know it or not, they are not free. The President appears to believe his claim that "they hate us for our freedom", because his solution seems to be to take away the freedom our enemies find so offensive.
Now, I'm sure President Bush is highminded, and would never deliberately misuse these powers he has illegally seized. He's not the sort to play politics with people's lives. He's not the sort of guy who'd execute people he knew might be innocent, or who were hopelessly retarded, just to play politics. He's not the sort of person who would question the patriotism of someone who had problems with the conduct of the war in Iraq, or the reason we got into it in the first place. He's not the sort of person who never admits he made a mistake. No, this President would never deliberately misuse these new powers to break the law, and then start spying on people and blackmailing people and destroying people with information he had no right to. But not every President is so fair and intellectually honest and benevolent.
Imagine that someday there's another President; let say there's a new President, maybe even this President's big brother, who is out to get people...not because they did anything wrong, but because they don't think the same things. Maybe this big brother has slogans like WAR=PEACE, and TRUTH=LIES, and LOVE=HATE. Maybe this big brother listens in on every conversation anyone is ever having, because who knows when someone might be doing something he doesn't approve of? That's still all right, though, right? Because it will only hurt people who are breaking the law...or saying something they aren't supposed to say, or thinking something they aren't supposed to think. That's still not the government--I mean, the President--I mean, Big Brother--going too far, is it? Of course not.
Because I love Big Brother.
2:16:25 AM 
|
|
