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Originally Posted by host
WHAT HAPPENED TO US?
I am asking because I am probably just to the left of center, politically, but I am aware that I am extremely more left leaning than some of the others who post here.
The abuses of our constitutional rights have been so extreme in this era, and the response to it by our representatives in congress, so accomodating, the existing provisions of FISA law, first passed in 1978, and "modernized" at least 50 times in the last 30 years, have started to look reasonable to me.
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The fascist label is subject to interpretation and just doesnt interest me.
One interesting phenomenon that occurred during the debate of the Patriot Act was the odd coalition that came together to oppose it....the ACLU and the American Conservative Union....the National Rifle Association and the American Library Association. Unfortunately, it was short-lived when it came to FISA reform and other constitutional threats.
The problem is that the guy in the White House with the greatest access to the bully pulpit to spew whatever furthers his ideological agenda always has the advantage to influence those not on either extreme. Roosevelt did it with the New Deal (many considered these programs unconstitutional), LBJ did it with Vietnam (an undeclared war), Reagan did it with Iran/Contra (an illegal act to "promote democracy in Central America), and Bush has done it for the purpose of expanding the powers of the President but in the guise of national security
And I am just left of center too.