Thank goodness Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online has all the answers. He’s settled the argument about whether we ought to worry about big government gobbling away our civil liberties or just worry about big government when it’s under the wing of those lousy left-wingers.
Goldberg says that during this time of security crisis we should simply trust our government to do the right thing. Don’t worry. Be happy. Great idea. Don’t worry your pretty little head about a written constitution enumerating the limited powers of government. And who needs a clumsy old legal code? How silly of us! You gotta have trust, people.
Boy, I feel better already. But folks like William Safire aren’t quite in Goldberg’s corner. Safire is more than a little perturbed that our president has declared a fuzzy martial law to deal with non-citizens living in the U.S. who are “suspected terrorists.” Any chance that a federal government armed with tremendous police powers and secret trials might abuse that power and the people on trial? Well, it’s possible.
But where’s your trust? You’re not going to give it to rabble-rousers like George Washington, are you? Washington said: “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence it is force! Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master . . .” How can an old fogey like Washington understand what we face today? Better to trust our sage new politicians to make it up as they go along without a lot of legality mucking up the works. Don’t worry. Be happy.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.