FISA AND THE ETHOS OF RETREAT AND DEFEAT

FISA was - as EVERYONE acknowledges - the result of the REACTION to Nixon's misuse of executive powers. (I repeat: THE MISUSE of executive powers - and NOT the invention of imaginary executive powers. The SCOTUS in the 1972 Keith decision reiterated that the POTUS does have the constitutional authority to order sigint of FOREIGN threats; the SCOTUS held that the threat in the Keith case WASN'T FOREIGN, and therefore it was OUTSIDE the scope of constitutional presidential authority.)

FISA was enacted in the first half of the first term of the very next elected president - the first half of the first and only term of the worst president of all time: Jimmy "I love Hamas" Carter.

What IMMEDIATELY followed the passage of FISA was (a) The Fall of the Shah to Khomeini and the islamofascists; (b) The Invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR; and (c) The Ascension by coup d'etat of Saddam. Did FISA CAUSE all these events - (events which DIRECTLY created the every crisis we are in today!)? NO. But the ETHOS which fomented FISA DID! It's an ethos that argues that a strong POTUS is more a danger to us than our overtly avowed enemies. This ethos also produced:

(1) The unilateral disarmament movement of the 1960's thru the 1980's (or surrendering to the USSR's war machine which spent 40% of its GDP on armaments!); (2) The anti-industry/anti-free trade/"green movement" (or surrendering to isolationism and protectionism and Ludditism); (3) The anti-2ND Amendment movement (which is tantamount to surrendering one's basic human right to self-defense, and surrendering to criminals); and (4) Multi-culturalism - which is essentially surrendering American culture -- (which has grown through the ASSIMILATION of foreign cultures into American culture, and which has always taught that the American political system best allows for maximal individual liberty, which in turns creates the prosperity immigrants seek for themselves and their descendents) -- to a polyglot mosaic of cultural and moral relativism. (5) The so-called "peace dividend" - which was nothing more than the hollowing out the armed forces of this country. It was as foolish in the 1990's as it was in the 1920's and 1930's.

And just as an importantly, it's an ethos which valorizes appeasement, and dreads valiant direct open and honest confrontation of evil. Valorizing appeasement has always led to, and will always only ever lead to weakness, and that always only invites adventurism of our real enemies and - if it's not checked in time - to our own defeat.

Reagan repudiated the ethos of retreat and defeat. And the result of his successful presidency was a rebirth of American strength and the defeat of the USSR and the liberation of 500 MILLION people - ALL of whom are better of now than they were under Soviet tyranny and hegemony. As a result of the fall of the USSR, we were also liberated - our foreign policy was no longer shackled to the Cold War and we became free to focus our attention on unsavory allies whose allaince we needed only in the context of the Cold War.

Bush's 21st century foreign policy - of aggressively attacking tyranny, and of boldly spreading democracy - (by attacking authoritarianism, totalitarianism and islamofascism) - is ONLY possible in a post-Cold War world. And it's the noblest of causes; one for which FDR and Truman and JFK toiled. It was taken up again by Reagan - and since 9/11, it has been taken up by Bush.

We mustn't let the appeasers and self-doubters ever get back in control of our foreign policy. REMEMEBR: they're the folks who wrote FISA, who were ready to unilaterally disarm and to perpetually co-exist with the USSR. Now these very same people - Teddy Jo Kennedy and Genghis Kerry - would rather attack Bush than our true enemy -- and they'd like to force our armed forces and our intel services to fight the enemy with one hand tied behind their backs.

THAT WON'T HAPPEN ON BUSH'S WATCH. NOPE: It's still morning in America. And, it's still morning for the rest of the world too, if we don't succumb to the ethos of retreat and defeat. At the very least, we owe it to those who sacrificed in the past for our liberty, and to those who are sacrificing right now for our liberty. Most of all, we owe it to generations to come - EVERYWHERE.