tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post1197139791535658198..comments2024-03-10T13:59:19.230-04:00Comments on xpostfactoid: Addington's legacy: we're "one bomb away"Andrew Sprunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601269968798865106noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post-5524986022290893432009-08-17T17:31:18.323-04:002009-08-17T17:31:18.323-04:00"But taboos and norms, once violated, will be..."But taboos and norms, once violated, will be violated again under stress if the violations are not unequivocally repudiated."<br /><br />Agreed. I think part of it is that the debate gets stuck at the 'keep Americans safe' stage. I find it frustrating that no one ever wants to own up to the fact that OF COURSE maintaining civil liberties will leave us a little bit less safe (ample evidence that the majority of torture & whatever doesn't help anyway aside). Life is not being about as safe as possible. Thousands of people get killed crossing the street each year; we don't put all-powerful crossing guards at every intersection. Liberty is not a free ride. It's just like in health care: OF COURSE not everyone can get every possible heroic treatment out there because society would bankrupt itself. But no one can have a rational discussion about tradeoffs because, in the case of civil liberties and terrorism, it would be treated as appalling to admit that you might be a little less safe because you live in a free country; while on the other side I suspect people's true motivations for spying on their fellow citizens are nothing more than power in the Orwellian sense of it.not my usual foolerynoreply@blogger.com