Dear Jerry,

I have a suggestion for the Statesmen Quote of the Day:

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary Safety deserve neither liberty, nor safety."

It's disputed, but the general agreement is that this was coined by Benjamin Franklin.

Regards,
Jim



Dear Jim,

I seriously doubt that the quote is Franklin's. He published it, but there's no evidence that he wrote it. More to the point, Franklin was perfectly comfortable with high levels of secrecy in government. He was, after all, America's first spymaster. Further, the quote imposes a modern grid on the founding fathers. Freedom or Liberty versus security is not the way the founders thought. Following in the classical Christian tradition, they believed that civic virtues were naturally in harmony with one another, not natural enemies.

The whole point of the United States Consitution is to have a strong enough central government "to secure these liberties." Note the choice of phrasing: liberties are secured. Liberty and security go together. It's only the modern extreme concept of liberty, which adds additional restraints on law enforcement and defense above and beyond the constitutional ones which is violated by something like the NSA program. I can find no constitutional text which forbids intercepting communications between foreign enemies and domestic contacts or places it under the control or jurisdiction of the judicial branch.

Thanks,
Jerry