1997-09-12 - Re: The problem of playing politics with our constitutional rights

Header Data

From: “James S. Tyre” <j.s.tyre@worldnet.att.net>
To: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Message Hash: 390b3fc7b6c5105912cd87a33dbf2bbdada1aa7f8892de1aef4993836707279a
Message ID: <3418DB7F.38B1@worldnet.att.net>
Reply To: <Pine.GSO.3.95.970911214229.23060C-100000@well.com>
UTC Datetime: 1997-09-12 06:21:39 UTC
Raw Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 14:21:39 +0800

Raw message

From: "James S. Tyre" <j.s.tyre@worldnet.att.net>
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 14:21:39 +0800
To: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Subject: Re: The problem of playing politics with our constitutional rights
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.3.95.970911214229.23060C-100000@well.com>
Message-ID: <3418DB7F.38B1@worldnet.att.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



> What we _can_ do is prepare for a long guerilla war with the bastards. 80%
> of the population will willingly trade away their rights ("what have I got
> to hide?") for more perceived security. Ben Franklin saw this 230 years
> ago.
> 
> It's war. Too late for a public relations campaign so that some future
> Congress will slightly relax their laws.
> 
> 
> And in a war, gotta break some eggs.
> 
> --Tim May

Mostly, I agree -- at least as far as Congress is concerned.  I place
more hope in the courts, which could be because I've been practicing
con. law for 19 years (many on f-c know this, but I do not assume that
Tim knows much about me).

But even though I work within the law, this may become a by any means
necessary situation.  As I type, I'm remembering when the FBI raided my
office about a dozen years ago, without so much as a warrant, thank you
very much, accusing me of violating national security laws. 
Technically, they were right; legally, they were wrong, but they didn't
give a shit.  Nice reminder (coming from a liberal, for those who've
just been asking what liberals think) that a little civil disobedience
now and again is not such a bad thing.

-Jim






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