[From the Independent Institute. The answer is of course "no," but some people have short memories, so it's worth posing the question. I remember the ACLU came up with this incredibly optimistic briefing book for the then-new Clinton administration, which pretty much disregarded everything in it. I'm sure some idealistic Republicans (silly them) had high hopes for the Bush administration way back when too. --Declan] BIPARTISAN THREATS TO CIVIL LIBERTIES Civil liberties defenders have lamented measures passed in recent years under the Bush administration, including not only the USA Patriot Act, but also the Defense Authorization Act of 2007, which empowers the president to summon the National Guard without authority from the states. Will the Democrats save our civil liberties? Independent Institute Research Analyst Anthony Gregory is doubtful. In a recent op-ed, he writes, "Although the Democrats will sometimes attack an egregious Bush proposal, they have not used the power of the purse or the filibuster to do anything about it. Nor should we assume they will be so mindful of civil liberties now that they are in the Congressional majority and have their eyes set on the presidency." Historically, Democrats have been little better than Republicans on the issue of civil liberties, Gregory argues. The Clinton administration, for example, "sought to allow the feds to peek at everyone's bank account, have a key to all private encryption and e-mail, and censor the Internet." One test of our lawmakers' commitment to civil liberties will come after the Real ID Act takes effect in 2008. Signed into law on May 11, 2005, the law "aims to transform state drivers' licenses into uniform national identification cards with features that conform to the central government's requirements," explains Charlotte Twight in THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW. It also gives the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security full discretion to determine whether a card is valid. (Embedded memory chip containing your tax or traffic records, anyone?) Congress knew what it was doing when it passed the act, which had privacy advocates outraged. But expanding the federal government's ability to monitor ordinary citizens is a bipartisan project. "Will the Democrats Save Our Civil Liberties?" by Anthony Gregory (12/20/06) http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1877 "¿Salvarán los demócratas nuestras libertades civiles?" http://www.elindependent.org/articulos/article.asp?id=1877 "Limited Government: Ave Atque Vale," by Charlotte Twight (THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW, Spring 2006) http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?issueID=45&articleID=572 _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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