Bill Whittle and the PATRIOT Act

I'm a big fan of Bill Whittle. I love watching his Afterburner segments on PJTV. Every time I listen to him, I feel like following him into battle. Or at least voting for him.

He recently posted some thoughts on the PATRIOT act on his blog. I've discovered that I don't agree with him on everything.

Actually, there are things in this blog entry that I do agree with. I think he gets the analysis of the conflicting sets of irreducible core beliefs right. Compromise with Muslim extremists is impossible because there are certain core beliefs on which we disagree. We believe in liberty, and on that point there is (or should be) no compromise. They don't, and on that point, they are unwilling to compromise.

OTOH, he argues that the PATRIOT act is a good thing. He makes two points in defense of this argument: that use of those powers has prevented several attacks similar to the 9/11 bombing; and that, to date, the rights of no US citizen have been infringed by use of these powers. I have no ability to confirm the first, but that's not the argument I take issue with.

The problem I have with the PATRIOT Act is that it is open to abuse. That no rights have yet been infringed relies solely on the intent of those men using these powers. There is nothing about these powers that would prevent them from being used against US citizens. We need only have in office a president who worries about reaction to his policies from certain "fringe elements" before we start seeing abuses of this power.

In this country, we're ruled by laws, not by men. Unfortunately, it's men who execute the laws of our nation, and this is a law that relies too much on the goodness of men.