The Paramount Civil Liberty

Richard Cohen is off and running in the 2010 Village Idiot Stupid Phrase Of The Year Contest with his column in the Washington post this morning.

KSM, Abdulmutallab and other accused terrorists should be tried. But these two are not Americans, and they are accused of terrorism, tantamount to an act of war -- a virtual Pearl Harbor, in KSM's case. A military tribunal would fit them fine. If it is good enough for your average GI accused of murder or some such thing, it ought to be good enough for a foreign national with mass murder on his mind.

No doubt George Bush soiled America's image abroad with what looked liked vigilante justice and Dick Cheney's hearty endorsement of ugly interrogation measures. But more is at stake here than America's image abroad -- namely the security and peace of mind of Americans in America. Bush stands condemned by the facts for Sept. 11 -- his watch, his responsibility -- and in all likelihood he bent over backward to ensure that nothing like those attacks would happen again.

The Obama administration, on the other hand, seems to have bent over backward to prove to the world it is not the Bush administration and will, almost no matter what, ensure that everyone gets the benefit of American civil liberties. But the paramount civil liberty is a sense of security and this, sad to say, has eroded under Barack Obama. Repeatedly, the administration has shown poor judgment. Abdulmutallab's silence is a scream that something is wrong. 

I'm sorry, I didn't know John Yoo was ghostwriting these days.  I don't even know where to start with this GOP talking point blather, but let's begin with that premise that the "paramount civil liberty is a sense of security."  Really?  I don't think our Founding Fathers would have agreed with that.  Franklin famously said "Those who would trade a little liberty for a little security deserve neither."

And it's the paramount part I have the issue with.  "sense of security" is more important than freedom, equality, respect, justice, and due process?  That's not the formula for a democracy, that's the basis of the police state in all of its dark glory.  I don't honestly believe I'm reading this.

If you accept that security is the paramount civil liberty, then you are a fascist, pure and simple.  You believe that all the others take a back seat to being secure, whether it is actual security or not.  It's madness, plain and simple.

This column is a scream that something is wrong with our Village media and badly wrong at that.  When your work starts to look like a World Net Daily diatribe on how Obama is destroying the entire country, it's time to hang it up, Cohen.