There has been no dearth of reaction, pro and con, to the Supreme Court?s ruling striking down sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas. But while gay rights activists were understandably elated by the ruling, it really wasn?t about gay rights at all. It was a decision about the proper role of the state.
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Patriot Games
There is an old joke that goes something like this: How do you find a needle in a haystack? Why, you burn down the haystack. It?s reminiscent of the infamous Viet Nam explanation that ?We had to burn the village down in order to save it.?
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Ends and Means
If there is one clear distinction between western constitutional systems and the various dictatorships and theocracies around the globe, it is the formers’ emphasis on process. Indeed, we might justifiably characterize our Bill of Rights as a restatement of your mother’s admonition that how you do something is just as important as what you choose to do. ?The ends do not justify the means? is a fundamental American precept.
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Terrorism and the Constitution
There is an old joke that goes something like this: How do you find a needle in a haystack? Why, you burn down the haystack. The joke is unfortunately reminiscent of the infamous Viet Nam explanation that ?We had to burn the village down in order to save it.? In the wake of 9/11, the concern of every American has to be that we root out terrorists without burning down the constitutional village. And so far, the omens are not good.
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The Past Illuminates the Present
We live in dangerous times. But we are hardly the first to do so. The questions that engage us (or that should engage us) have been the subject of books and essays by great minds for centuries. Too few of us are familiar with those works.
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