The War On Terror (And Accountability)

Over on Robert Scoble's blog, he mentions an argument he had with his brother where he states his brother's side of the argument as:

He believes the government should have infinite powers to go after terrorists and criminals. "Hey, if you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about, right?"

That, my friends is a truly scary sentiment. For a party historically in favour of less government, they're sure not shy of getting their fingers into more and more aspects of the American citizen's private life.


And for a country so deeply rooted in the ideals of democracy, it is sometimes disheartening to see what seems like a lack of concern about the increasing infringement of citizen's rights.

How many more times will the administration impinge on those rights in the name of the 'War on Terror'? How many more times can they go to that well before the country wakes up?

I remember in the days immediately following 9/11, a discussion with co-workers that revolved around one simple statement: One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. How does the administration decide which is which? What's to stop them from defining the latter as the former at the most convenient time. If ever there was a time for political accountability, it is now.