The Punning Pundit

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June 06, 2006

John Weidner Hates America

In reading this charming post, John Weidner shows himself to be an enemy of the American Revolution. He has forgotten that freedom does not mean physical security, but rather the ability to be secure from random abuses of governmental power. But enough of my prose for a moment, let’s look at his blatherings:

Under ideal circumstances there should probably have been no public arrests at all. The junior jihadis should have been quietly whisked off to Gitmo, so as not to alert others that they are being watched.

Does John Weidner really want to give to every politician and every future politician and every conceivable future politician the right to make secret arrests of citizens? Whatever he thinks of George Bush, does he truly believe that Bush’s successor or Bush’s successor’s successor wouldn’t use this power for purely personal ends? Can Mr. Weidner not think of any single politician in all of America who wouldn’t have him—John Weidner-- locked up for his political beliefs?

We the public know who the Government is arresting not to show the face of the evil we stand against, but rather so that we the people know that the Government is, in fact, fighting against evil and not us. What does Mr. Weidner think Liberty means if it doesn’t have at its core the right to know and decide how the government is using its vast power? And how can we citizens know and make those decisions if the government isn’t required to tell us what it’s up to? Indeed, the whole argument in favor of the Second Amendment (by people on the Right) is to keep the government too scared of us citizens to cause soviet-style disappearances.

I don’t trust anyone with the power to make citizens "disappear". The fact that Mr. Weidner does says frightening things about his belief in liberty...

Posted by Andrew at June 6, 2006 12:38 AM

Comments

Posted by: Afaeyre Maede at June 6, 2006 08:13 AM