Reality Check

One of the most damaging changes in American political culture has been the shift away from evidence of impropriety as the standard of wrongdoing. The emerging standard for scandal or wrongdoing has come to be settled upon as simply the appearance of impropriety. Facts no longer matter. Only appearances do. In a similar vein, Andrew Cochran is challenging opponents of The Patriot Act to produce some real victims of all the alleged abuses:

"So what strikes me about the Patriot Act debate is that, after 4 years, the opponents can't show us actual victims of all that 'abuse.' You don't see the weeping and crying, the class action lawsuits, and aggrieved parties with lives shattered by the junkyard-dog tactics of overzealous prosecutors and law enforcement. They weren't at congressional oversight hearings, they aren't at the press conferences, and they aren't cited in op-eds. The DOJ Inspector General hasn't found any. We've had four years of experience, and that's long enough - where are they?

So instead of talking about 'the potential for abuse,' as Victor Comras posted again below, I challenge Patriot Act opponents to show me the victims. Show me the real, actual, proven, damaged, victims - the dozens, scores, hundreds, or thousands - of all that Patriot Act "abuse." No more platitudes, cliches, or claims by advocacy groups, please."

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