Do You Hear What I Hear? – Bodies of Water
Okay, small digression here, but I’m hoping there are some readers out there who can help me understand something.
Namely, what is the big deal over this FISA thing? I mean, sure, it’s a bad bill. And sure, I’m against expansive wiretapping and am not in love with the idea of total amnesty for the companies who helped it happen illegally. But honestly, if I made a list of my top 100 political priorities, this wouldn’t even come close.
And yet, I’ve rarely seen the internet-Left more angry over something. They are just seething, bringing out all their threats, and generally throwing a huge tantrum. But every time I try to get someone to explain why this is such a big deal I get arguments that don’t make much sense to me. Most of them seem to be virtually textbook cases of a logical fallacy.
“It’s an example of how the Democrats in DC are willing to sell out principles.”
“It justifies doing anything. If the Constitution can be thrown away for this, they could do anything they want.”
“It proves they aren’t willing to stand up to Bush and Cheney – they’re just going to let them get away with this”
These all rely on the idea that FISA is not just a representative example of a larger phenomenon, but rather is something that by itself breaks open new possibilities for severe state intrusions. But I just don’t see any reason to believe that’s the case. It’s easy to post hysterical analogies, but the claims are thin as tissue-paper, as far as I can tell.
We live in a democracy, an imperfect one to be sure, but a democracy nevertheless. And there are very clear lines of where the American population is going to tolerate, or not tolerate, certain actions. Obviously, those lines will shift depending on a variety of factors, but I there are a lot of things that are simply so obviously unpopular that they would never even be suggested. And most of the hysterical claims about what FISA will lead to fall easily into that category.
Which brings me to the real point. I think the big issue with FISA is much more about the backlash than it is about the Democratic senators. Sure, hold their feet to the fire when they make silly and bad votes (as they did here). But at the same time, take a look in the mirror and try to watch out for the trap of the netroots echo-chamber effect.
Because on this issue, I just don’t see any real traction with the general population. They simply don’t see all that much to be worried about in wiretapping. If they are concerned, it’s a much more vague distaste than the hysteria of folks on the blogs. Which means that the general approach of freaking out at folks in Congress for not being “good enough” Democrats puts the cart well before the horse. When you find yourself incredibly disagreeing with not just the Republicans but also with a huge percentage of the Democratic caucus, it might be a good time to ask whether your political goals are realistic enough to merit serious consideration. After all, there is a lot of truth to the old axion that “politics is the art of the possible.”
To be sure, sometimes you have to buck the trends no matter what. The Iraq war, for example, was a terrible idea and deserved being named precisely that in spite of the large support by Democrats in Congress. But these need to be exceptional cases. Otherwise you’ll quickly find yourself in the hazy nowhere of Naderland, angry all the time and losing the capacity to distinguish the baby and the bathwater. Which brings me back to my original question. Is there anyone out there who can convince me that this FISA bill deserves anything close to the same response as the war? Why should I consider FISA to be so egregious to merit my legitimate and sustained outrage at the betrayal of Congressional Dems?
Absent a good answer to that, it seems like a far more productive route would be to refocus some of the reaction on persuasion. That doesn’t mean abandoning the idea that our politicians ought to be held accountable, or giving up on the pressure for bills which align with the Constitution. But combine those with a much bigger outreach program to explain to folks like me why this issue deserves so much attention.
In short, if you can’t make people believe that this is the big deal that you think it is, there’s no reason to expect anything to change. It’s easy to talk to like-minded folks about how angry you are, but I tend to think it would be more productive to put some of that energy into trying to get potential allies on your side. Because frankly, if you can’t succeed at the latter task, you’ll have pretty conclusively demonstrated the futility of the former.