Conservatives turn against anti-terror laws
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Since President Bush's election in 2000, the biggest fracture point in the conservative revolution has been the divide between the GOP's sizeable libertarian wing on one hand, and others who view "small government" as an expendable talking point in the face of war and other priorities.
The issue of civil liberties, especially concerns about growing surveillance under the "war on terror," have been a nagging stressor on this fracture for some time. This is especially true in the South, where suspicion of government intrusion doesn't know party affiliation, causing staunch conservatives like Bob Barr of Georgia to join hands with the ACLU over threats to privacy and other rights.
Now, with Republican in-fighting reaching new levels, the Washington Post reports that prominent conservatives are speaking out against anti-terror laws, especially thosethat could wrongly profile asylum-seekers from other countries:
Since President Bush's election in 2000, the biggest fracture point in the conservative revolution has been the divide between the GOP's sizeable libertarian wing on one hand, and others who view "small government" as an expendable talking point in the face of war and other priorities.
The issue of civil liberties, especially concerns about growing surveillance under the "war on terror," have been a nagging stressor on this fracture for some time. This is especially true in the South, where suspicion of government intrusion doesn't know party affiliation, causing staunch conservatives like Bob Barr of Georgia to join hands with the ACLU over threats to privacy and other rights.
Now, with Republican in-fighting reaching new levels, the Washington Post reports that prominent conservatives are speaking out against anti-terror laws, especially thosethat could wrongly profile asylum-seekers from other countries:
Conservatives who supported President Bush's reelection have joined liberal groups in expressing outrage over his administration's broad use of anti-terrorism laws to reject asylum for thousands of people seeking refuge from religious, ethnic and political persecution. [...]How Congress responds will be closely watched by voters concerned about civil liberties -- Democrat, Republican and Independent.
"It's outrageous," said Barrett Duke, vice president of public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. "I think it's essentially a reaction of fear to the current terrorist danger." The language in the laws, he added, is "a knee-jerk reaction."
2 Comments:
It will also be watched by Libertarians as well. Bob Barr has all ready left the Republican Party for the Libertarian Party and unless Republicans start proving themselves to be an option for moving in the right direction on freedom and smaller government expect more to join Bob Barr in the Libertarian Party.
Wrong. This whole meme of a "divide" between Bush and Republicans and us libertarians is way, way, way overblown and overhyped by the Liberal media. The funny thing is the Liberal media never seems to come to us libertarians to ask for our views on the matter. They just go ahead and speak for us.
We libertarians care about civil liberties issues like repealing seat belt laws, ending laws against marijuana use, repealing the Internet gaming ban, and stopping the Military Draft.
The so-called civil liberties you site are arcane and obscure, and not relevent to middle-Americans. And they're not even really civil liberties issues. They are efforts to assist in fighting Islamo-Fascism.
If you're worried about civil liberties you need to pay more attention to the threat of Islamo-Fascists who want to dress our wives in burqas from head to toe, cut off the genitals of our gay friends, outlaw booze and gambling and throw our marijuana-smoking buddies in jail for life. Those are REAL CIVIL LIBERTIES.
Next time you start making up crap about us libertarians, do us a favor. Consult a libertarian first for their views.
Eric Dondero, CEO
MainstreamLibertarian.com
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