Warrantless wiretaps

Warrantless wiretaps have been defended by citing wartime security measures used by previous presidents, such as Lincoln and Roosevelt. This argument is worthless.

The first problem with this argument is familiar to any child who has tried the “but everybody is doing it" ploy. If Lincoln and Roosevelt jumped off a bridge, would you jump too? During this country’s history we have gradually gotten closer to the ideal of our Founding Fathers. Should we quit improving?

The next problem is that we are not at war. Only Congress can declare war, and they haven’t done so.

Finally, if we are in some kind of undeclared war, when will it end? This War on Terrorism is also called The Long War. Estimates on its length range from years, to decades, to forever. For the duration is effectively forever.