« Oops! We'll Do It Again | Main | Groped Granny Gets Guilty Verdict »
July 25, 2005
Paul Weyrich Turns Anti-American Commie
Paul Weyrich, head of the Free Congress Foundation and mainstream conservative, is beginning to have second thoughts about the Bush administration's war on terror. In fact, he's sounding much like one of those anti-American, namby-pamby liberals. Writes Weyrich:
[B]ecause of the War on Terrorism, America may be on the verge of becoming a national security state, which in the past used to be called a "garrison state." That means citizens will allow the state to do almost anything it wants so long as it justifies its actions in terms of "national security."
In effect, the Constitution and the rule of law itself go out the window, along with our liberties. . . .
I am not convinced that the best way to defend America from terrorism is to invade and occupy other countries, countries with religions and cultures very different from our own. At the very least, the next conservatism should ask whether such a policy generates more terrorists than it eliminates, and whether we would be better served by isolating ourselves from disordered places than by intervening in them. . . .
What would rejecting the national security state mean in specific terms? A few examples include:
-- We should never again pass wide-ranging legislation that endangers our liberties in the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attack, as we did with the so-called "Patriot Act" after 9/11. It is almost certain that, so long as we are intervening in other countries, we will be attacked by terrorists here at home. Some of those attacks may be much worse than 9/11. When they happen, cool heads should prevail over immediate fears. If we allow ourselves to be carried away by our fears, and by voices that will play on those fears to increase the power of the state, we will lose our freedoms.
-- We must be very careful about allowing government to use advanced new technologies, which permit unprecedented powers of surveillance and intrusion, to maintain our liberties in law while undermining them in fact. Can there be any doubt that we will someday become the targets of the surveillance that we enable?
-- Perhaps most important, we must understand that in national security as in other areas, government too often wins by failing. As conservatives have long recognized, government always wants more power and more resources. Big government always wants to become bigger government. The next conservatism must not allow big government to become bigger by waving the "national security" flag.
It's nice to see some members of the mainstream Right starting to get it. If only we could convince the Limbaughs, Hannitys, and O'Reillys of the same thing, public opinion might really begin a seismic shift.
Posted by Mike Tennant at July 25, 2005 09:43 AM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)