Ed Cognoski: Not Above the Law: If surveillance act doesn't work, fix it

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Not Above the Law: If surveillance act doesn't work, fix it

“This nation cannot have a chief executive, now or in the future, who believes he is entitled to decide on his own which laws he has to obey for the sake of some higher good.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

I don't know which is more astonishing: a President who claims unchecked, unreviewable, unlimited powers in the name of national security, or an electorate that seems willing to go along with him.

I'm a believer in President Reagan's sage advice. Trust, but verify. Trust the Executive to protect and defend the United States of America, but have the Judiciary independently verify requests for domestic surveillance and issue warrants when justified. How ironic is it, that only one generation removed from a Republican President who stood for smaller government, and is still revered by his party for his philosophy, that we have another Republican President who daily sets new records for unconstrained government debt and unconstrained government power?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Trust but verify. Sounds about right to me.

If Bush is on the level, then he should welcome some method of making sure things are done right, not just for his presidency, but for those down the road as well.

The one problem I have is that the technology in this area just keeps improving. The potential for abuse is enormous unless some real checks and balances are put in place.; 2/09/2006 4:29 PM
Ed Cognoski said...: Bush is on the level. He believes his priority is to defend the nation against attack. He believes in simple solutions. And he is surrounded by men who believe in a strong Presidency. That's the forecast for a perfect storm in which civil liberties are in grave danger.; 2/09/2006 8:07 PM