[chrisser]

When did preventing each and every terrorist act become a requirement for national survival?

"We the People of the United States, in Order to ...provide for the common defence...do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America"

"Preventing each and every terrorist act" is the reason we have a government.

"common defense" presumes there is or will be someone against whom the citizens will need to be protected.

BTW, that obscure document also specifies exactly for whom the "blessings of liberty" are to be secured.

[gridlock]

"We the People of the United States, in Order to ...provide for the common defence...do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America"

The common defense. That is the key.

People are advocating torture in order to prevent individual terrorist acts. While these acts may be brutal and horrible, they do not threaten our common existance as a country.

People are advocating extending the common defence to the point where we are protecting each individual and preventing each individual act of violence. This is a whole different matter, and requires a much heavier hand of government.

Great mischief has been done by various governments in the name of protecting the innocent.