Two things do seem serious. One, the people most vigilant of civil liberties and constitutional rights during the Cold War appear to be caving. The American Civil Liberties Union: “We agree with the administration that the N.S.A.’s bulk collection of call records should end.” Something short of daring, I would say. Two, when Obama announced in January his plans for “calibrated curbs” (the Times’ phrase), the reporting from Washington was plain that he had to avoid provoking the surveillance set. I found the thought chilling, and I do again now that these plans are headed for the Hill. What are we witnessing? What does the phrase “post-constitutional law” mean, if we are to use it? Are we watching some kind of slow-mo coup wherein the security and surveillance establishments, having finally succeeded in suffusing among us an eternal, pervasive fear, are cut loose, immune from all law but the law they make as they need it? Are we all to be watched over by machines of loving grace, as old Brautigan put it long years ago? Patrick Smith
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 12:14:03 +0000
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