Heather MacDonald: We can be our own worst enemy

Heather MacDonald has been pounding this drum since before 2001: decrying the civil liberties lobby's protests against the Patriot Act and the CAPPS traveler screening system. The civil libertarian lobbies have protested against activities that have never been done under the Patriot Act (library record viewing), and completely misrepresented the impact of the Patriot Act on surveillance, searches and seizures and detainees' rights. The civil libertarian lobbies have also forced the shutdown of CAPPS -- a useful screening tool for the otherwise inept FAA.

One of Mac Donald's best pieces is this one from last year in the City Journal -- a Manhattan Institute publication.

Here is the crux of her arguments:

When the War on Terror’s opponents intone, “We need not trade liberty for security,” they are right—but not in the way they think. Contrary to their slogan’s assumption, there is no zero-sum relationship between liberty and security. The government may expand its powers to detect terrorism without diminishing civil liberties one iota, as long as those powers remain subject to traditional restraints: statutory prerequisites for investigative action, judicial review, and political accountability. So far, these conditions have been met.