I try to avoid political debate as I believe it creates hard feelings among otherwise like-minded people on the board, with no information value added to our hobby. However, I believe that the endangered status of civil liberties in the US has become relevant to the hobby in a very real way.

Here is a news article today about Secret Service agents questioning a 15-years-old high school student about anti-war drawings he did for an art class.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/04/27/artwork.investigated.ap/index.html

Regardless of what your opinion is about the subject matter of the kid's drawings, I feel that this event is truly outrageous. Civil liberties are quite vulnerable to the wrath of the majority, and the only way to uphold them is to uphold them as a matter of principle. If we accept that they be violated for some unpopular constituency, our turn will be next.

They didn't say they questioned him because of the anti-war drawings. They said they questioned him about the drawing of the president's severed head on a stick. Advocating the president's impeachment or disagreeing with his policies is one thing. Advocating (as the kid's drawing may imply he does) that the president be murdered and impaled is a bit overboard though, don't you think? And the Secret Service has never been known for its great sense of humor in regards to protecting the prez, not even before 9/11. They probably talked to the kid to get a read on whether they expected him to turn into a dangerous nut job when he gets older.

A much more dangerous form of civil liberties violation is currently happening - the imprisonment of US citizens in military institutions, beyond the reach of the judicial system. I thought the constitution forbade such conduct, but they seem to be doing it with impunity. That's only half a step away from the midnight knock on the door (after which you just disappear) for anyone the government doesn't like.