…because, inevitably, the government is going to misuse or abuse its powers.

A recent report from the Department of Jutice Inspector General turned up cases where the FBI improperly or illegally used the provisions of the Patriot Act (talk about marketing- it’s totally misnamed) to secretly obtain information on people in the United States.

After 9/11, we allowed ourselves- as a nation- to be driven by fear and hysteria. We passed the Patriot Act, a law which is, quite simply, unAmerican. The entire POINT of America is that we intentionally limited our government’s powers to intrude upon our lives, and the Patriot Act gives that notion up.

“America” is as much an ideal as anything. We jointly share in the American Dream; we collectively agree that things like free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association, and other freedoms are a Good Thing. We believe, as a group, that the government shouldn’t (for example) tap our phones unless it’s got a good reason and can get an order allowing it to do so from an independent judge.

When we passed the Patriot Act, we gave up on the very ideas that make America what it is. That’s the great tragedy and, in a way, it gives the terrorists a victory. They made us less American, more fearful, more hidden. They made us more like the old Soviet Union or East Germany, where the police (or the secret police) might be tapping our phones at any time- and simply because they (the police) decided to do it, not because they had to prove to anyone that they needed to.

The Patriot Act needs to be overturned. We need to get back to what America is supposed to be. We need to repudiate the fear-driven tactics of the Karl Roves and Dick Cheneys and George W Bushes, and we need to do this in a way that wakes up not just Democrats and independents, but also Republicans.

We need, in other words, to win against the terrorists.

Yep, pretty much hit the nail on the head in this one.