David Petraeus was the darling of the Republican Party when he was nominated by George Bush.
He was great at his job.
He was touted as a potential GOP Presidential candidate.
But he got caught in the post-9/11 surveillance state created by Bush which gave vastly expanded spying powers to government agencies.
And though Bush is gone, the centralized surveillance power he created remains. (This is why Libertarians don't like giving power to government, because they don't think centralized power can be effectively managed by far-away bureaucrats)
The FBI was using its new 9/11-domestic-spying powers to pry into the private emails of US Citizens. Like the KGB, they acted under the context of "national security" - defined with strategic vagueness so as to give bureaucrats greater latitude to target anyone. This is how the Bush Feds got Eliot Spitzer, who was brought down for having sex with a prostitute. They used the Patriot Act to track his finances.
The Bush Surveillance Machine was created to stop terrorism, but increasingly it is being used to ensnare people for private matters of adultery or crimes like prostitution.
This is why we opposed Bush when he started expanding the power of Big Government to spy on US Citizens. Because we knew (and still know) that centralized power gives too much discretion to corrupt or flawed bureaucrats, who can use that power to destroy privacy or hunt political opponents.
When will Republicans learn? Giving more power to Big Government doesn't make us safer. We're not catching terrorists with these new powers (because Big Government doesn't have the competence to protect us, despite the GOP's faith that the nanny state can keep us safe).
The Bush Surveillance Machine has merely empowered Big Government to spy more effectively on US Citizens.
(When will Republican Voters stop giving government so much power? We know the Left doesn't mind giving government power, but we count on the Right to leave free adults alone to make their own choices and mistakes.)
He was great at his job.
He was touted as a potential GOP Presidential candidate.
But he got caught in the post-9/11 surveillance state created by Bush which gave vastly expanded spying powers to government agencies.
And though Bush is gone, the centralized surveillance power he created remains. (This is why Libertarians don't like giving power to government, because they don't think centralized power can be effectively managed by far-away bureaucrats)
The FBI was using its new 9/11-domestic-spying powers to pry into the private emails of US Citizens. Like the KGB, they acted under the context of "national security" - defined with strategic vagueness so as to give bureaucrats greater latitude to target anyone. This is how the Bush Feds got Eliot Spitzer, who was brought down for having sex with a prostitute. They used the Patriot Act to track his finances.
The Bush Surveillance Machine was created to stop terrorism, but increasingly it is being used to ensnare people for private matters of adultery or crimes like prostitution.
This is why we opposed Bush when he started expanding the power of Big Government to spy on US Citizens. Because we knew (and still know) that centralized power gives too much discretion to corrupt or flawed bureaucrats, who can use that power to destroy privacy or hunt political opponents.
When will Republicans learn? Giving more power to Big Government doesn't make us safer. We're not catching terrorists with these new powers (because Big Government doesn't have the competence to protect us, despite the GOP's faith that the nanny state can keep us safe).
The Bush Surveillance Machine has merely empowered Big Government to spy more effectively on US Citizens.
(When will Republican Voters stop giving government so much power? We know the Left doesn't mind giving government power, but we count on the Right to leave free adults alone to make their own choices and mistakes.)
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