The American Guesser

One of the worst evils being perpetrated by Bush apologists has been to spread the idea that anyone who disagrees with or disapproves of anything coming out of the White House is somehow disloyal or reckless. Brad Spangler says:

An example of one of those brainwashing tricks is the continuous debate over what the right “balance� is between liberty and security. The implicit assumption underlying that debate is that liberty and security are antagonistic; that one supposedly can not have more of one without having less of the other.

With all respect to Mr. Spangler, Ben Franklin said it best:

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.”

As a libertarian who only grudgingly supported the war in Iraq — I couldn’t bring myself to disagree with the idea of liberating so many enslaved people, and Sadaam never lived up to treaties — I have sat back and watched dissenters’ patriotism questioned by Bush’ surrogates. I could never agree with the torture and mistreatment, nor with the continued erosion of civil liberties.

The massive spying program in violation of FISA was the final straw for me. But I was surprised at the anger I saw from people who thought that because I supported the war I must be a die-hard Bush supporter. I laughed that off.

But the worst of the criticism was that I was somehow advocating a weakening of our national security. By insisting that the Bush administration needed to get a judge’s permission before they tapped a citizen’s phone line, I was in their opinion somehow expressing my lack of concern about terrorism. One person accused me or forgetting about Sept. 11, 2001.

To hell with that. I voted for the guy in 2004. I didn’t drink his Kool Aid.