Romney: wiretap foreigners
I had my doubts about Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Now I know that he is at best an imbecile and at worst an irresponsible charlatan opportunist: (P.S.: As Cosma Shalizi asks about Leon Kass, “Why take sides?”)
WASHINGTON — Governor Mitt Romney raised the prospect of wiretapping mosques and conducting surveillance of foreign students in Massachusetts, as he issued a broad call yesterday for the federal government to devote far more money and attention to domestic intelligence gathering. . . . “How about people who are in settings — mosques, for instance — that may be teaching doctrines of hate and terror,” Romney continued. “Are we monitoring that? Are we wiretapping? Are we following what’s going on?”
Yeah, good question, Mitt. While we’re at it, why don’t we wiretap Christian churches — in some of which we find American extremist clerics advocating the assassination of democratically-elected leaders.
Note to Mr. Romney: please go back and reread the fourth amendment. Note that if you’re going to arrest someone, you have to have a good reason to believe that that particular person is about to commit a crime or already has. You can’t just single out a group for surveillance. Black males are more likely to commit crimes than white women; do we then wiretap all black males? Of course not; the mere suggestion would set off alarms nationwide, and Romney might even get impeached. But suggest that we wiretap Muslims, and you’ve got a willing audience.
I suspect you’ve not thought about these things, Mr. Romney. You’re just trying to score political points. Without probably meaning to, you’ve just weakened American democracy one tiny step. Congratulations.
Comment by Adam Rosi-Kessel — January 1, 1970 @ 8:00 am