Faithful wha?

I've been loving most of Al Gore's speeches lately.  That held true for the excerpt of yesterday's that I heard replayed on the radio this morning:

"Is our Congress today in more danger than were their predecessors when the British army was marching on the Capitol? Is the world more dangerous than when we faced an ideological enemy with tens of thousands of missiles poised to be launched against us and annihilate our country at a moment's notice? Is America in more danger now than when we faced worldwide fascism on the march-when our fathers fought and won two World Wars simultaneously?

It is simply an insult to those who came before us and sacrificed so much on our behalf to imply that we have more to be fearful of than they. Yet they faithfully protected our freedoms and now it is up to us to do the same."

But then I thought hey, wait a minute - WWII?  Faithful protection of our freedoms?  Tell that to the Japanese American citizens who a)lost property without due process and b) were unlawfully detained without reasonable cause. Also - my German American great grandmother lost her U.S. citizenship solely on the basis that she spoke German as her first language. And she was BORN here.

 

Granted, our government has since apologized to those citizens, recognized the illegality of the actions that were taken and made some attempt at restitution.   Shrub & Co. certainly aren't the first administration to take the "it's easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission" road to national security.  They're just the latest incarnation.