Liberty Minute January 27 2014

 Like too many of their rivals on the Right, many on the Progressive Left hate their opponents more than they love individual liberty.

 Princeton historian Sean Wilentz produced a museum-quality exhibit of that mindset in a lengthy essay published by The New Republic magazine. Wilentz, who supports Hillary Clinton's presidential aspirations, used roughly 10,000 words to dismiss Edward Snowden's revelations about the NSA's totalitarian surveillance program by denouncing Snowden's ideological transgressions. Wilentz insists that Snowden's support for Ron Paul's 2012 presidential bid, and his skepticism about government in general, invalidate his disclosures about the NSA's criminal activities.

 A similar perspective was offered by Zach Beauchamp and Ian Milhiser, who write for Think Progress. The writers denounce a growing bipartisan campaign by state legislatures to shut down the NSA's spying program by cutting off the agency's access to locally controlled resources, such as water and electricity. The problem, they insist, is that this assertion of state authority could threaten the entire post-New Deal apparatus of redistribution and regulation. For those progressives, living in an East German-style police state is the price we must pay to preserve the New Deal.

 Oddly enough, that analysis is correct ? which is an indictment of the New Deal, not an endorsement of the NSA.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.