Were Americans to be honestly polled about which national issues they consider to be of primary importance to the future of the country, terrorism, illegal immigration, and private property rights would likely rank at the top. And on at least two of these issues, the official stances of Republicans and Democrats cannot be more starkly contrasted. As usual, the Democrats are on the wrong side.
For the past month, America has been bombarded with constant caterwauling from Democrats on Capitol Hill and the liberal press that the Bush Administration might have violated the “privacy rights” of terrorists.
Of course the left does not exactly characterize the NSA controversy with such frankness. Rather, they avoid direct references to the identities, national origins, and allegiances of the individuals whose incoming phone calls from known Al Qaeda operatives overseas were monitored in order to prevent a recurrence of 9-11. Opinion polling works out so much better for the Democrats that way.
Admittedly, a continual barrage of such hysterics by the liberal press does indeed pose a risk that Americans might eventually become distracted by this “straw dog” of lost privacy. The likely result would be the implementation of roadblocks to such surveillance, once again allowing the security apparatus that has so successfully protected the country since 9-11 to lapse into disrepair.
A disturbing number of Americans are toying with the notion of reverting to the 1990