Among the most important questions in post-Sept. 11 America is how to draw the balance among civil liberty, the rule of law, and national security.
An appropriate balance must take both the Bill of Rights and the danger to national security seriously.
But rather than thinking seriously about the tradeoffs at stake, the political class in America has too often resorted to a form of “gotcha” politics, with forces on each side of the aisle accusing the other side of indifference to either security or liberty, and leaving it at that.