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1 posted on 01/10/2003 4:17:21 AM PST by RJCogburn
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To: RJCogburn
Richman has some very good points here. The rush to award the federal government all kinds of new powers has made me more than a little uneasy -- and the reflexive cries of "traitor!" hurled at anyone who questions the prudence of those awards make me even more so.

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, no anarchist, warned us to be most on guard against government when its purposes appeared benign. Indeed, American government's initial purposes, when a new power is proposed, usually are benign. The problem isn't with the motivations of the initial proponents, but with the incentives and dynamics that drive government's ongoing relations with its subjects.

It might well be that we must put extraordinary surveillance powers in the hands of the feds while the battle against Islamist terrorism is fought. But let's remember to pull them back once the war is over -- and let's be as vigilant as possible while their exercise is in progress.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason:
http://palaceofreason.com

2 posted on 01/10/2003 6:49:58 AM PST by fporretto (Curmudgeon Emeritus, Palace of Reason)
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To: RJCogburn
read later
3 posted on 01/10/2003 8:35:20 AM PST by LiteKeeper
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