Comment Re:stupid, confusing war on terror... (Score 1) 1065
Legal distinctions are important. Politicians use our reluctance to hold the line on the Constitution to proceed down the slippery slope of increased power at our expense. Keep in mind that today we use those enhanced "powers" against accused terrorists, tomorrow it might be against those who speak out against the government.
We don't have a declared war. We have an administration that plays fast and loose with executive power, and a Congress which is largely complicit. We see daily blatant violations of the Constitution - such as wiretapping, holding people without due process, etc. - yet remain largely ambivalent as if it isn't our problem. But it *is* our problem, one which *will* come back and bite us in the ass hard.
I'm sorry your great uncle spent three years in a Chinese prison camp, and I'm sorry John McCain was tortured. But they were out there to defend the Constitution which forms the fabric of our society. Wouldn't it be a spit in their faces to say that we can now just ignore that same document because it is politically convenient? Remember, our soldiers aren't out there dying simply to preserve our land or our property. They are out there defending our way of life. Don't throw that away over a few accused terrorists.
We don't have a declared war. We have an administration that plays fast and loose with executive power, and a Congress which is largely complicit. We see daily blatant violations of the Constitution - such as wiretapping, holding people without due process, etc. - yet remain largely ambivalent as if it isn't our problem. But it *is* our problem, one which *will* come back and bite us in the ass hard.
I'm sorry your great uncle spent three years in a Chinese prison camp, and I'm sorry John McCain was tortured. But they were out there to defend the Constitution which forms the fabric of our society. Wouldn't it be a spit in their faces to say that we can now just ignore that same document because it is politically convenient? Remember, our soldiers aren't out there dying simply to preserve our land or our property. They are out there defending our way of life. Don't throw that away over a few accused terrorists.
