woolfe9999
Diamond Member
- Mar 28, 2005
- 7,153
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Nah, I think that's a cop out. It wasn't the American people who saw Iraq as a threat. It wasn't the American people who demanded such a thing as the Patriot Act, nor Indefinite Detention. These are things politicians sold to the American people, not something they demanded.
Each of those things was not popular at the time? You're wrong. They were all popular at the time. Even the Iraq war had majority support in the initial phase. And you're mistaken if you think that Presidents and Congress don't look at polling numbers in deciding how to act. They do this routinely because they all want to be re-elected.
I think it's ironic that you're calling my position a copout. What exactly do we expect from our politicians except to do whatever they think will get them re-elected? If we do not send a message that we will vote against those who pursue heavy handed statism as part of the "war on terror," then we reap what we sow. And of course, we are sending the exact opposite message - we will vote you OUT of office if you do things like try suspected terrorists in civilian court, where they get full Constitional rights, or even if you Mirandize a suspected terrorist and give them a right to counsel. There is a reason the repubs demogogue the issue in this way, because they know it plays well to our electorate. FFS, Bush pissed and shit all over the Constitution in his first term, and he got re-elected, didn't he?
The painful truth is that the political "center" in this country is very much on the interventionist right with respect to foreign policy, and very much for the most heavy handed law enforcement measures imaginable.
- wolf