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There's another side to this story. Americans demand this kind of action during emergencies. The widely accepted idea that the government is capable of protec
by leftyted 7y ago
There's another side to this story.
Americans demand this kind of action during emergencies. The widely accepted idea that the government is capable of protecting us from events like this is tacit acknowledgement of the government's right to closely monitor society.
To put it another way: as soon as you start blaming the government for a terrorist attack (or something), you are rather close to condoning government surveillance of the citizenry (or whatever extreme measure).
- pdelbarba 7y agoSure, however this case in particular is a bit of a counter point because covid-19 isn't causing anyone to become a child predator, nor has there otherwise been a recent tidal wave of child predators that appeared out of thin air. Seems they pushed the bill off for a bit but this whole thing was introduced at an odd time.
- keiferski 7y agoI would say that the people demand action of some kind, not necessarily action that violates civil rights. A wise leader would know how to satisfy the populace without sacrificing liberty in the process.
- clairity 7y agoyes to action, not surveillance. but i remember the patriot act having lots of popular support (but not from me). it still makes me mad thinking about it. police powers (internally delegated coercive power) are largely the domain of states and localities, not the federal government (who's responsible for externally targeted force), along with an FBI that's limited to federal concerns, like interstate commerce and crimes against the federal government. citizens need to be ever vigilant about maintaining those distinctions.
- rdiddly 7y agoI feel obliged to mention that this assumes a correlation between surveillance and protection.