FBI adds to wiretap wish list

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Which makes it even more important, right?

The fact that there's no specific right to privacy in any single place in the Constitution makes it even more important zealously defend it.

The Constitution is not a sacred text. It is a set of rules that we (well, our ancestors) created to protect the rights of their children. It is a bunch of rules created by human beings. It's up to us to make sure they actually work -- that they actually give us what we expected.

When the Constitution was published, a woman of his acquaintance was said to have asked Ben Franklin, rhetorically, "What have you given us?" Meaning: Why did it matter?

Franklin's response: "[We have given you] A republic, Madam -- if you can keep it."

And that's the challenge: Keeping it.

And the argument usually comes down to this: Are we most likely to keep it by increasing social restraints (i.e., laws) or by reducing them?

What's most peculiar about that argument is that those most theoretically in favor of reducing the legal restraints on citizens (conservatives) are usually those most ready to give up rights like privacy, as embodied in such things as habeas corpus. And those said to be most profligate in their tendency to constrain the citizenry with law (liberals) are the ones most often opposed to eroding those rights.

Kind of makes you wonder if most people don't really understand what they want...

Posted by: escoles@...   Posted on: 03/15/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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