People keep saying that the

People keep saying that the world has changed completely since September 11th, but when I checked the Constitution it hadn't changed at all. Let's fix the real problems, sure. I've said that all along. But extreme measures, whether at home or abroad, are only going to make the problem worse. (...)

I've heard all the arguments for unquestioned obedience to authority in wartime, for example that only the military really knows what its doing, but those arguments apply to nearly everything. Besides, the military openly admits that it has no idea what it's doing. In a war without boundaries, a democratic people must be fully engaged with the war, contributing appropriately to the war but also regulating the government's conduct of it. That's what civil liberties are for. In fact, protecting civil liberties is a military imperative in an even more straightforward way. When our government violates civil liberties, it abandons its claim to moral and political legitimacy.