"But in addition to making their own cases, they have exposed something deeper about our system of government. We are all in their debt." It was hard for me to

"But in addition to making their own cases, they have exposed something deeper about our system of government. We are all in their debt." It was hard for me to put a name on what in this story resonates with me. And I think that quote really captures it. What they did was illegal, of course, but there's something about the response of the government that really exposes the paranoid insecurity of the security state. We're told that our wars on Terror and Drugs are going well and that the ends justify the means, and yet this story seriously destabilizes for me the feeling that there's much else besides security theater and draconian punishment. The government just seems to be making up the rules as it goes, and if you don't like those rules, God help you. It's infuriating. We could be so much better as a country.