Or, as this excellent Harper's Magazine article puts it, "Happy Counterterrorism Day". In it the author discusses three lessons from Guy Fawkes Day (after providing the historical context) which would apply for 2007. Funny enough, they all boil down to George W. Bush's presidency...
But the biggest lesson I think is the one which seems to habitually elude the masses:
And then we sign away more and more of our freedoms... all in the name of "security"... sigh...
Torture was a weakness, not a strength of the Government. In twenty-three years, this would be the accepted wisdom of a society sickened and revolted by the official use of cruelty and of torture. In one hundred and seventy years, a nation would be born committed to suppressing it forever. . . or, as it turns out, until the arrival of George W. Bush.
But the biggest lesson I think is the one which seems to habitually elude the masses:
It is not the People who should fear the Government, but rather the Government which should fear the People.
And then we sign away more and more of our freedoms... all in the name of "security"... sigh...
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