The American Spectator

Second, Barack Obama is unwilling to use fear as a way to gain political advantage. Just look at the correlation between when the Bush administration suffered political damage and when they chose to raise the terrorism threat levels over the past 7 years and you’ll see what I mean.

John McCain is picking up where Karl Rove left off by trying to scare the good citizens of the USA into voting for him. It isn’t going to work. Terrorism is a threat that a rational president such as Obama will be able to handle appropriately and successfully.

p>It isn’t the only problem our country is facing, however, and perhaps that is where Mr. Klein gets confused. br> — Matt Ahrens /p>

I want to disagree with Klein’s article about Obama representing the old way of thinking in the so-called war on terror. I simply don’t hear it as a move away from moving vigorously against terrorists. Rather it is a move away from the politics of fear which has freed George Bush to assault the Bill of Rights in the name of the “war on terror.” I propose the following:

* There is no “war on terror.” When John Edwards declared that, he was right. Wars are waged between governments, not ad hoc groups and criminals, no matter how well organized. Edwards was simply daring to point out that “the emperor has no clothes.”

* The average American has more chance of being killed in an automobile accident or even a lightning strike than by a terrorist. To use the “war on terror” as an excuse for expanding the power of the executive branch of the government at the expense of the legislative or even the courts to say nothing of violating basic constitutional rights as the Bush Administration has done is something that has to stop.

* Criminal behavior on the part of terrorists should be dealt with by the courts where the accused are able to confront their accusers and see the evidence against them. I don’t buy the notion that this compromises national security. There are ways of dealing with that issue without compromising people’s legal rights.

* This in no way suggests that we should lessen the resources devoted to what I will call the struggle to stop terrorism. All military, political, intelligence and any other resources needed for preventing terrorist attacks and apprehending the criminals should be used. Beef it up from where it is, even. My concern is for due process once these people are in our hands.

p>To conclude, I have a far greater fear of compromising fundamental liberties as those are spelled out in the Constitution than anything else. I will take my chances with the terrorists rather than continue sliding down the slippery slope where such things as habeas corpus, freedom of speech and so on become provisional at the convenience of whoever happens to be in charge of making the accusations. I think it was Benjamin Franklin who made the comment, “He who sacrifices liberty in the name of security eventually loses both. br> — “Pastor” Don /p>