Good Intentions Paving Co.
Listening to the Bush press conference today, I couldn’t help but shake my head at some of what was being said. Over and over again, Bush defended everything that had been done in the War on Terror as “good” because it protected citizens of the United States and stymied the activites of terrorists. I was struck by a feeling that Bush’s words were very much in the vein of ‘the ends justifies the means.’ He came off as trying to convince the American Public that since in the end all of these things keep them safe and stop the terrorists, then it’s a good thing. I want to believe that he has in the best of intentions in this, but as the adage does “The Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions.”
One of the major things that has been brought into the light is Bush’s executive order allowing the NSA to spy on people domesticly without going through vetting by a FISA court. Bush did his best to defend it, again and again saying what he did was perfectly legal and it was done for the security of the American People. Everyone in the Bush Administration is falling in line behind him to back him up, trying to sell the idea that their intentions were for the best and this was perfectly okay. This has been thrown up at the same time as the Senate failing to reauthorize all provisions of the Patriot Act, something that is causing the Bush Administration to cry foul.
I have very few doubts that the majority of people involved in the current administration want to keep the American People safe. They want to see the terrorists brought to justice and people able to go about their lives without having to worry about a recurrence of 9/11/01. However, like many in the past, they’ve gone too far in the wrong direction, forcing and/or requestion people to give up their Civil Liberties in exchange for security and safety. To my mind, that is absolutely the last thing they should be doing.
I look at all the changes that have been made over the last four plus years and can’t help but shake my head. I’m simply glad that some of those in Senate are less willing to simply go along with the rhetoric. Bush in his speech today brought up that he wants to know why all of those Senators voted for the Patriot Act when it was first passed and now want to vote against it. To answer that, I would ask President Bush to look back on the mindset and viewpoint of everyone in those few weeks immediately after 9/11/01. For the first time since World War II, the United States had been attacked on its home soil. Unlike Pearl Harbor, this took place in the mainland United States, not an island in the Pacific Ocean. This struck much closer to home for many more Americans than the attack on Pearl Harbor did. At the time, everyone was in panic mode and in many cases willing to go along with what looked to be the right thing to do. Now, several years after the fact, a more sober and objective viewpoint can be taken and the assaults on Civil Liberties can be curtailed.
There are parts of the Patriot Act that are good things, providing law enforcement with the tools they need. There are others that go too far, or that those enforcement agencies have proven, at least in part, too irresponsible (or power hungry) to use. Bush’s intentions were good in authorizing the wiretapping for the NSA domesticly. His good intentions, however, do not change how intrusive this is or how much it violates the Civil Liberties of those in this country. There are plenty of people out there who don’t care, because they don’t feel they’ve done anything wrong and therefore it doesn’t matter if the government listens in on the conversations. Even with their good intentions, they miss the point. It’s not the specifics of guilt or innocence, but the principle of the situation. There are guaranteed/acknowledged Civil Liberties in the Constitution that should not be abridged, infringed upon, or outright set aside no matter the good intentions of those doing so. And simply because someone else is willing to give up those Liberties does not give them the right to force or guilt someone else into doing it.
Personally, I don’t care how pretty the road is getting there or how comfortable the ride is on all those good intentions. I have no desire to have the average temperature of my surroundings shoot up to unacceptable levels.