Cheney and Fear

[Cary]

A great letter to the editor of The Chicago Trib today:

"If there's one thing the Bush administration has taugh us, it's that no ploy is too cynical, too blatant or too flat-out desperate if the president's numbers are in need of a quick jolt. If there's another thing it has taught us, it's that any such ploy will most likely come from Vice President Dick Cheney.

"Fearmongering comes naturally to Cheney, and the remarks he delivered at a recent Iowa campaign stop most likely gave him no pause whatsoever:. . . This is more than just shrill campaign rhetoric: It is anathema to the principles of democracy itself, and it leasds one to wonder what, if anything, democracy actually means to Cheney and the Bush campaign.

"No terrorist organization has the power to destroy the Untied States. Other attacks may be carried out against us on our soil, and some may succeed, but Al Qaeda will never fly a flag over the dome of the Capitiol; the Iraqui insurgency will never force Congress to swear a loyalty oath. The only ones with the power to topple American civilization are Americans, and we can do it by falling for a seductive and dangerous bargain: by trading our freedom for safety.

"Benjamin Franklin famously remarked, those willing to trade liberty for security deserve neither. . .

Dan Wiencek, Riverside