War on Terror and the Constitution: Rights vs. Justice

In this article, David Cole and James X. Dempsey argue,

Justice is a balancing act . . . we, as Americans, have an increasing willingness to trade civil rights for an enhanced sense of security . . . a trade will ultimately leave us both unsafe and unsatisfied.

Believing that the federal government, and particularly the Federal Bureau of Investigation, have used America’s fear of terrorism to justify broad increases in government power while simultaneously undercutting important civil liberties, Cole and Dempsey say some of our most important legal and political traditions are now challenged by new government policies associated with the war on terrorism. The challenging of fundamental ideas such as privacy rights and the presumption of innocence are a part of a radical reinterpretation of the rights and responsibilities of the executive branch and the law enforcement organizations under its control. The use of secret evidence and witnesses to justify detention of suspected terrorists, clearly prohibited by the Constitution, is now regarded by those in power in Washington as a justifiable wartime exception to traditional standards. Taken as a whole, these policies and practices have dramatically altered the balance between civil rights and effective crime control in post 9/11 America.

I would agree, both as a reader of this article and an American, that many do in fact trade in their personal rights in order to feel "safer" or "more protected." The stability between rights and crime control is a fine one to define and discover altogether, creating a serious problem both in our country's government and its streets. As the duty of many law enforcement agencies is to confront immediate and long term threats, restricting civil liberties cannot be diminished during this these processes. These alterations of legal and political traditions must not be justified as it is our right as Americans and humans to feel both safe and free. I firmly agree with Republican representative Ron Paul as he states,

The one conclusion I have come to since 9/11 is that there is absolutely never a need to sacrifice any of your personal liberties to be safe! That means we do not have to accept the notion that we can have warrantless searches, a total loss of our privacy. We don’t need a National ID card. You don’t have to register the American people to make us safe. You have to deal with the problem much more directly.