Posted on 06/13/2013 10:04:22 AM PDT by Fred
There are many idealistic progressives whove remained opposed to the National Security Agencys data mining programs regardless of who is in the White House. (We cant surrender our freedom for safety, you know!) Its only a shame that these same people have such little reverence for constitutional liberties in other areas of public life.
Really, its worse than that. Consider the central case of the left these days: Unfettered freedom is a tragedy decadent, unfair and un-American. So if, as liberals like to argue, its a moral imperative for Americans to scale back personal liberty to build a cleaner, fairer and healthier world, shouldnt we be willing to do the same to protect the nation from terrorists? Why one and not the other? If Washington can shield you from the vagaries of economic life, why cant it do the same with terrorists?
Soon after news of the NSAs data mining and PRISM programs hit the news, we learned that there are Democrats with an uncanny ability to be malleable, apathetic and partisan in the face of an intrusive state. In January 2006, when George W. Bush was president, Pew Research Center asked Democrats how they felt about the NSAs surveillance programs. Thirty-seven percent labeled the spying acceptable, and 61 percent said they were unacceptable. The reverse is true today, as 64 percent of Democrats believe that Barack Obamas surveillance programs are acceptable and 34 percent say theyre not.
We could see this as an instance of mass hypocrisy if we assumed that the response is driven by a concern for the snooping itself rather than the administration in charge of the snooping. But its likelier that folks on the left tend to be idealistic about presidents and less concerned about inquisitive NSA agents. (No, Republicans arent innocent by any stretch. But its fair to say that theyve become more...
“A society that aims for equality before liberty will end up with neither equality nor liberty. And a society that aims first for liberty... will end up with [liberty and] a closer approach to equality that any other system...” Milton Friedman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKxCWheH5Vk
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