America's Unfounded Concern About Spying

One of the foundational fears of Americans is that given the opportunity, government will usurp personal freedoms and restrict civil rights. That’s a primary reason for state’s rights and the limitation of federal powers and government size. The larger the government body, the more centralization of power and the greater reach government has into the affairs of the individual. Liberals and leftists want to grow the federal government, so what do you suppose that says about the liberal and leftist agenda as it pertains to a citizenry free of government intervention? Of course, you are hard put to distinguish the current federal government expansion under a conservative administration from the traditional liberal agenda.

There is a new poll out:

Two-thirds of Americans believe that the FBI and other federal agencies are intruding on privacy rights as part of terrorism investigations, but they remain divided over whether such tactics are justified, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released yesterday.

The poll also showed that 52 percent of respondents favor congressional hearings on how the Bush administration has handled surveillance, detainees and other terrorism-related issues, compared with 45 percent who are opposed. That question was posed to half of the poll's 1,005-person random sample.

Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert who is a professor in Georgetown University's Security Studies Program, said the poll results could spell trouble for the FBI and other government agencies as they continue to seek support for expanded anti-terrorism powers granted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Given the size of the U.S., the total law enforcement component nationally is extremely small, and they are overwhelmed with keeping up with their prescribed functions. If you think that there is some significant law enforcement threat to the personal freedoms of law abiding people, then you don’t have a clue about reality. In some respects, I can’t blame you because the liberal mainstream media has pounded on the concept of civil rights violations in its quest to de-legitimize the George W. Bush administration.

Relative to the worldwide Islamofascist threat, the bottom line is this: the national government must take the lead and do a far better job than has been done to date. That means growing the national law enforcement and intelligence agencies and prioritizing their functions to counter-terrorism. That also means growing the state and local participation with the federal counter-terrorism effort. To do anything less will likely result in massive public disruption as Islamofascism grows and exerts its violence upon us.

The liberal American main stream media is doing a national harm by not educating the public to the realities of today. The U.S. government is not spying on law abiding citizens, and they are not spying enough on terrorists and their supporters.