You are right, and it started with Eisenhower and the ideological sift of the Republican Party to the religious right’s control.  Those of us who lived through the 50's remember the repression of the Republican controlled Congress and White House, as well as the McCarthy inquisition by his un-American committee in Congress. Nixon and Mitchell were the next major attach on civil liberties, but the Viet Nam war distracted him and the country. After WWII there was a major shift to the right for both parties until Viet Nam and the 70’s rebellion. Jimmy Carter was a southern conservative Democrat and he did not resist the sift to the right. Then came the Reagan/Bush I administrations and AG, Ed Meese’s non-accredited and non-scientific committee report on pornography and the need to restrict individual liberty. Then Clinton sold out to the religious right to gain their vote as a conservative Democrat. However, for the most part, he and Janet Reno kept hands off to the greater extent, except when it was politically expedient to push for restricted liberty.  However, Bush II, the Republican Party and Ashcroft, as the enforcer, are manipulating the war on terrorism and our fear thereof to capture as much power as possible, thus hoping for absolute power, if they can take over the Senate. Sen. Hatch can then finish his task to stack the courts with religious zealots and insure the rewriting of the bill of rights. If you study Hatch's religious affiliation and the Mormon philosophy of absolute domain over all things, then you will understand how dangerous the potential scenario could be. The current administration is giving the signal to local LE and the use of federal agencies to go after escorts, strip clubs, porno and all things not to their liking. In reality, they spend more time and money helping local LE and prosecutors to control the behavior of its citizens, than actually working on combating terrorism. With the country and most local governments in serious debt, is it wise to spend money on sex enforcement and recreational drug use, rather than on education, roads, water and sewer systems, better air traffic control systems, parks and open space, those things that benefit all citizens and improve the quality of life? Of course, I may be wrong.

-- Modified on 10/7/2002 9:15:25 PM