Freedom of Press is limited to those who own one - H.L. Mencken

Of, By, And For The Sheeple

by West Virginia Rebel

Reason has an interview with Judge Napolitano on the subject of liberty vs. security that should be required reading for all concerned. Here he is on the Patriot Act:

The Patriot Act’s two most principle constitutional errors are an assault on the Fourth Amendment, and on the First. It permits federal agents to write their own search warrants [under the name “national security letters"] with no judge having examined evidence and agreed that it’s likely that the person or thing that the government wants to search will reveal evidence of a crime.

Remember that the British government permitted its soldiers to execute self-written searh warrants. They called them “writs of assistance,” and they were one of the last straws that caused American colonists to rebel. It’s bitterly ironic that 230 years later a popularly elected government would authorize its own agents to do the same thing that when a monarchy did it, we fought a war of rebellion in reaction-which we won!

And on Ron Paul:

Congressman Paul has rejuvenated almost single-handedly the Goldwater wing of the GOP. Now Reagan tried, before [James] Baker and his boys advised him on how to behave. Now, I loved the man, but when you look at his record and rhetoric, they are two different things. But Ron Paul had made it legitimate again for small government, maximum individual liberty, Goldwater Republicans to come forth and complain about big government, and I am the recipient of lots of those complaints.

Read the whole thing, and order a copy of his new book for your Bush Republican friends. They may resent you for it, but their children will thank you in the long run.

Update by Lee: Here’s something from the article for all you Drumwaster types to chew on.

reason: I noticed that “he or she” in your previous statement. Have you made any headway with your Republican friends on the matter of, well, they might believe in this whole “war on terror” and trust Bush needs these extraconstitutional powers to protect us, but what about when a president they don’t trust wants to use them for goals they don’t believe in?

Napolitano: Bill O’Reilly defended Bush on his declaration of three Americans as enemy combatants, before the Supreme Court told him he can’t do it—and Bush refused to even say why—but Bill said “I trust him, it’s good for him to do that.”

I asked him, “Would you give that power to Hillary Clinton? She could declare you an enemy combatant and dispatch you to Guantanamo.” He just said, “Would you come and visit?” I said, “No….they’d keep me down there too!”

So many of my Fox colleagues, whom I love working with, have such trust and faith in the heart and head of President Bush. But look at the calendar: He’ll be Mr. Bush in 14 months, and unless it’s Ron Paul, God knows what his successor will do with the powers Congress had purported to give him. And I say “purported” because they don’t have the right to actually do all the extraconstitutional things they’ve done.

I believe I’ve been making this exact same argument for, oh, four or five years.  You might think Bush has sunshine shooting out his asshole, but what are you going to do about the president 30 years from now?

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