I was scorched by conservatives over the Patriot Act. I was told ‘If you aren’t doing anything wrong, what do you have to worry about’ and I responded that it doesn’t matter. I don’t lose my constitutional rights ‘for the good of the people’ as that was Russia’s justification. Not to mention how worrisome it is when it gets in the wrong hands.
Conservatives (many here of FR even) were duped big time with that one.
Yep. I got the SAME reaction in my Conservative circles often being called a “closet Liberal” and worse. This is an “I told you so” I do not enjoy.
And speaking as a former Prosecutor, the “if you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about” is about as stupid as it gets.
All protections guaranteed by the 4th, 5th & 6th amendments mean nothing if there is no "Due Process," and the red-text above starts with the assumption 1) that you have to be doing something wrong for the government to persecute you, and 2) that the government's agents are generally not corrupt.
Ruby Ridge, and the AZ Marine shooting, prove the first wrong.
Fast & Furious, Castaway, and the Acorn incidents should convince you that the second is just folly.