An anonymous coward writes “Stuart Taylor Jr. writes we should be making it easier, not harder, for intelligence agencies to protect us. He says Congress (and us librarians) has virtually ignored the biggest danger: the administration’s incarceration of suspected “enemy combatants” without charges, access to lawyers, or meaningful judicial review. Instead, Congress and many civil libertarians have misdirected their zeal by mischaracterizing the PATRIOT Act’s largely reasonable and incremental expansions of the investigative powers that are the government’s main hope of catching would-be mass murderers before it’s too late.
He adds The PATRIOT Act’s critics have pointed to precious little evidence that it is anything like the engine of McCarthyite witch-hunts they depict it to be. And while a few sections do pose some risk of overly intrusive FBI spying, there are worse things than that. One of them is being murdered by terrorists.”
Dear, Stuart Taylor jr.
Whatever happened, you poor, simple-minded sap, to the idea of: Live free or die? The problem with your philosphy, chum, is that it is based on an attitude of fundamental cowardice. A patriot is person who is willing to lay down his life to protect your liberty and freedom. The coward asks others to lay down their liberty and freedom for his life. What the patriot understands that the coward does not, is that even if he dies, or if large numbers of people die, the nation will survive and new generations will grow up to live in liberty and freedom in their own right.
The USA [un]PATRIOT Act is a fundamental act of cowardice enacted in a moment of hysteria and panic by fools quaking and shivering in the darkness of their ignorance. People who would sell the rest of us into slavery for no better reason than to ensure their continued comfort. You may live that way if you wish. It is your life; you and you alone are responsible for your choices. For myself, I’d rather die standing on my politically incorrect, libertarian feet than die begging on my knees.
You have a nice life, and mind you don’t startle at every little bump in the dark.
anonymous cowardice
I have a hard time understanding why those who support “security” measures like the so-called patriot act are so fearful of attaching their names to their messages. What exactly do they fear? I remember trying to argue in favor of US involvement in Vietnam (mid-60s; I was in high school) and feeling humiliated by better-informed opponents of the war. Perhaps they’re afraid that they won’t be able to out-argue their opponents with logic. What do others think is the best way to deal with this attitude?