impeachment talk and the incremental loss of privacy [View All]

Why another thread about impeachment? Because all of the chest beating on this issue seems to ignore a basic reality: the lack of a true level of outrage about chimpy's warrantless eavesdropping.

But it shouldn't come as a surprise that the public at large is relatively indifferent about this. Sure, they don't think its such a good thing. But enough to demand impeachment? Not seeing it. Why?

Well, for starters, let's dispense with the oft-repeated fiction that warrantless searches are unconsitutional. While the Constitution may seem clear on the issue, there is a long long history of exceptions and many (if not most) searches take place without warrant.

In fact, I daresay that most DUers have knowingly been subjected to warrantless searches on numerous occasions and haven't raised a peep. That's right, every time you go through an airport screening device, every time your luggage gets x-rayed, you've just been subjected to a warrantless search.

So think about it. The American public, while not particularly thrilled about it, now puts up with having to remove their shoes to get on an airplane, to not being able to lock their luggage, to knowing that their bags are going to x-rayed and, in some instances, opened and looked through. Warrantless eavesdropping? Just another incremental loss of privacy.

Rather than focusing on impeachment, we should be focusing on convincing voters that its time to change the direction things are moving. Its going to take incremental steps back in the other direction. Its not realistic to expect the public to say we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it about an eavesdropping program that probably has far little direct impact on them than something that they've grumpily decided to put up with: having to take off their belts and empty their pockets to get on a plane.

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