Mr. Gestapo Goes to Washington

The famous Frank Capra movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, presents the classic myth of the American "good guy" struggling hard against bureaucratic and political corruption to set things right and by dint of hard work and a good heart. These fine American traits sustain him in fighting the good fight and allow him to overcome. That's the story line that Americans paint for themselves. The little guy wins. Good triumphs over evil. In the end we get our just desserts.

The reality in the U.S. is very nearly the opposite. Today the Constitutions is regularly trampled upon by the executive branch and nobody bats an eyelash. Here's a bleeding heart liberal cry from the James Stewart of our day, the NY Times, and it is falling on deaf ears:

The Department of Homeland Security is routinely searching laptops at airports when Americans re-enter the United States from abroad. The government then pores over or copies the laptop’s contents — including financial records, medical data and e-mail messages. These out-of-control searches trample the privacy rights of Americans, and Congress should rein them in.

There have been widespread reports of the government searching — and often seizing — laptops, BlackBerrys, iPhones and other portable electronic devices at airports. It is not clear how often these searches occur, and the government will not say. The Association of Corporate Travel Executives says that of 100 people who responded to a survey it conducted this year, 7 said they had had a laptop or other electronic device seized. ...

The government has the right to take reasonable steps to control what comes into the country, but the laptop-search program’s invasions of privacy go far beyond what is reasonable.

You can rest assured that today's reality won't have the happy ending that Hollywood plotted. George Bush is too busy making sure that rights and laws are so distorted under his "security" regime that even when he leaves office you, unlike Dorothy, will have no "Kansas" to return to. In fact little Toto will have become a monstrous pit bull chewing off your face while you scream "But I have rights!".