The RNC Takes a Dump

Yesterday a federal judge in Detroit ruled that the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretap/surveillance program is unconstitutional and a violation of federal law. With several dozen lawsuits having been filed around the country challenging this highly controversial program, it was almost inevitable that one or more courts would rule in favor of the plaintiffs. After all, anyone who has had a basic political science or undergraduate constitutional law class can see the basis for several arguments against the program. Well, just about everyone.

Apparently, no one on the Reb National Committee can see any basis for any argument against warrantless wiretaps and surveillance. To me, that’s where the story lies. This post isn’t about supporting or attacking the program in question. I have no difficulty seeing reasonable arguments on each side and no difficulty seeing the likelihood that equally reasonable federal judges at the District Court level will disagree on the interpretation and application of the provisions of the Constitution and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in question. Clearly the issue will only be settled in the appellate courts. This post is about the mindless, and dangerous, RNC reaction to the decision yesterday.

The RNS issued a press release bearing the title, “Liberal Judge Backs Dem Agenda to Weaken National Security”. It’s hard to imagine jamming more idiocy into less than a sentence. Any person, be they Reb or Dim, should be offended by this disgusting reduction of a legitimate constitutional issue down to political fecal matter.

First, we get handed the now worn out reference to a “liberal judge”. Every cur in the RNC kennel howls this line every time any judge follows any line of reasoning that disagrees with their increasingly narrow agenda. It is an intellectually dishonest piece of ad hominem that has become the stock and trade of the nearly rabid American partisanship that gets served up to us day after day.

Next, we get told that this judge’s opinion isn’t just philosophically liberal but it is also supportive of a political agenda, in this case the Democratic agenda. First of all, there is precious little evidence that the Dims have any agenda, at least any cohesive agenda. Second, see the paragraph above. Third, this kind of polarized reasoning takes all issues of significance and divides them into two grossly simplistic piles (I’m not letting go of that fecal matter word picture) – the black and the white; the left and the right; the right and the wrong; the good and the bad; us vs. them; Reb vs. Dim; or whatever other dualistic division strikes your fancy. It’s moronic.

Finally, we get to the dangerous part – the ritualistic invocation of national security, which the Reb hierarchy now invokes like neo-clerical automatons. The assertion that the Democratic Party has an agenda to weaken national security is preposterous. Assertions like that are so inflammatory and deliberately divisive that they become threats to our national security in and of themselves. They are an affront to any thinking American, no matter which end of the political spectrum they spew from.

This argument takes the tact that if you don’t agree with me and my approach to securing the country, then you’re just another disloyal threat to our freedom and security. Terrorists have an agenda to weaken our national security; al – Qaeda has an agenda to weaken our national security; Iran and North Korea have an agenda to weaken our national security. But neither the Rebs nor the Dims have anything of the kind and any assertion that they do is a disservice to the country.

It’s fair game to argue all day long about which party has the best agenda for strengthening our national security. Let the debates on that point go on and let the American people make their choice in November 2006 and 2008, just like they did, like it or not, in November 2002 and 2004. But, it is an entirely different matter to turn the debate inside out and declare that one or the other American political party, each one of which represents approximately half of the American people, has an agenda to weaken our national security. Again, it’s a moronic notion. And when partisan morons rule, national security is in danger.