The Liberty Papers

Commenter uhm pointed out this story:

Executive power hot topic at New Hampshire forums

Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani yesterday defended President Bush’s extensive use of national security tools such as the USA Patriot Act as no worse than other countries, but Sen. Barack Obama said he would use executive orders to roll back some of those powers.

“The Patriot Act does give the government more tools, more power, but it’s not vastly out of line with what other governments have, free governments, democratic governments,” Mr. Giuliani told the Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce while campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination here in New Hampshire.

“All of this takes a little privacy away from somebody. It depends on who you take it away from, and what is at stake,” he said.

Yes, it certainly does. But as Michael Hampton at Homeland Stupidity points out this morning, discussing the relative ease of which our census bureau gave up information on the whereabouts of Japanese-Americans in 1942, you change who you take that privacy away from in an instant. They had promised that census data was confidential. But when you give up power to government, understand that the power you give up today may end up being used in ways tomorrow that you might not like:

I had several stories ready to go of government agencies losing, misplacing, or intentionally publishing private personal information on ordinary Americans. Forget all that. The danger of government databases being compromised is minor compared to the danger posed by the databases’ very existence. The privacy protections that Michael Chertoff and threats like him promise you today can be gone tomorrow, with an act of Congress, an executive order, or just a new regulation. After all, they’re all just words on goddamned pieces of paper.

I’ve often said that George W. Bush isn’t who I consider the greatest threat to liberty. I honestly believe that he would limit his actions to those people who he suspected to be legitimate terrorists [the fact that I don’t trust his judgement, though, is why I’d like to see them get some sort of trial and judicial oversight]. But Bush has opened a door with things like the Patriot Act, the widespread extension of Executive powers, and I wonder if the President coming up next, or perhaps 3 or 4 down the line, will be so restrained.

I want our next President to shut the doors that Bush has opened. I simply don’t see Giuliani doing that.