Completely Wrong

A poorly thought-out speech from Attorney General Gonzales.

From CNN:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales contended Saturday that some critics of the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program were defining freedom in a way that presents a "grave threat" to U.S. security.

"But this view is shortsighted," he said. "Its definition of freedom -- one utterly divorced from civic responsibility -- is superficial and is itself a grave threat to the liberty and security of the American people."

What's the point of even attempting to spread democracy if we are only going to destroy it at home?

The notion that dissent from government policy is somehow a 'grave threat' defies any sense of democratic tradition and notion of limited government (and these people call themselves conservatives?).

Dissent is not a threat, it is essential, to democratic government. Without dissent there can be no marketplace of ideas, and no true choice. We need a variety of opinions- even misinformed opinions such as Gozales'- for the voters to have options from which to choose.

Fortunately, in the election just past, they, overwhelmingly, did not choose the sort of views expressed by Gonzales.

People who defend the Constitution against threats- internal as well as external- are patriots, and not a threat.

GP