End of Civil Liberties?

Is the new warrantless wiretapping law passed by Congress last weekend the end of civil liberties as we know it, or just a prudent measure to allow the government to monitor terrorists?

You can guess where liberal E.J. Dionne would stand:

The episode was the culmination of a shameful era in which serious issues related to national security and civil liberties were debated in a climate of fear and intimidation, saturated by political calculation and the quest for short-term electoral advantage.

Naturally, the Wall Street Journal edit page took a different tack. 

Goaded by the ACLU and much of the press corps, many Democrats want to use the courts and lawsuits to restrict Mr. Bush and future Presidents in their ability to gather intelligence in the war on terror.

When you read the Journal’s appreciation of the bill, you can see that there are a lot of issues that E.J. passed over in silence.  Like what kind of liability that telecommunications companies might have if they cooperate with the administration in monitoring terrorists.

The intriguing issue for me is the enormous energy that is brought to the wiretapping issue.  You can see why.  Liberals and their friends on the left live in fear that one day they will need to organize the overthrow of an evil fascist Republican administration.  With warrantless wiretapping they could be easily picked up by the police for plotting revolution.  Therefore all their communications should be private and off limits to government investigators.  Just in case

After all, if a liberal were plotting revolution, it would be justified as civil disobedience and the absolute right to oppose evil right-wing fascist oppression.

But for 97.3 percent (or thereabouts) of Americans, all this fuss over the monitoring of terrorist communications is a storm in a teacup.  After all, the only kind of trouble they are likely to get into with the government is on taxes.  And the government already has the power to look at everyone’s financial activity.  And it gets everyone’s wage information routinely every pay day and on W-2 day.

The civil liberties issue that conservative really care about is the right to give money to the candidate of your choice.  But that right is currently snagged in a web of restrictions and regulation.

But liberals don’t seem to care about that.