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June 10, 2005
Eternal Questions - 06/10/05: The Big Tradeoff
The Patriot Act is coming up for renewal, and the Bush Administration wants additional powers. Given the nature of modern politics, it is likely Bush is asking for more than he really needs so that the Democrats can negotiate him down and feel useful.
Expect a few million bloggers and pundits to dust off the Ben Franklin quote about people who sacrifice liberty for security not deserving to have either. The thing is, as much as I love Ben Franklin, I believe in this case he was sacrificing a little bit of common sense for the sake of a good quote.
Let's look at this realistically. When 2008 rolls around, and we're talking about the rate of insurgent attacks in Iraq, the number of top Al-Qaeda operatives still on the loose, and the American deaths attributable to terror attacks, will the Democrats
- Treat the statistics as an acceptable price for protecting our civil liberties.
- Demand a Senate investigation and create a whole ad campaign about how Bush has been ineffective in promoting national security.
Yeah, I picked (B), too.
I know that Peg-Eye Nate feels we need to play hardball for a couple more years and he's all for a stronger Patriot Act. Bruce is not sure where to draw the line. But I don't have any doubts: if a watered-down Patriot Act would keep the Democrats from trying to sabotage our foreign policy, I'm willing to take the risk!
Respectfully submitted,
Ferdinand T. Cat
# At Fri 1:33 AM | Permalink | Trackback URI | Comments (0) | More Eternal Questions
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» Lunch: 6/10/2005 from basils blog
Try one of these specials with your lunch:
* ScrappleFace says the FBI missed its chance.
* Conservative Cat thinks Ben Franklin was exaggerating.
* The Therapist has a report on Howard Dean's latest escapade.
* WuzzaDem gets serious. Well, maybe n... [Read More]
Tracked on June 10, 2005 11:57 AM
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