Shelley tried to warn us. Creating monsters never ends well

The AntiWar.blog blog (redundant much?) has an article today entitled, “The Surveillance State is a Gigantic Beast that Values Self-Preservation, not National Security.” The article covers a topic that I’ve written about a number of times — the monster that Dr. Bush and Igor Cheney built now has a life of its own and its will to survive trumps all other concerns.

Those who defend the current surveillance state do so for a lot of reasons, but despite what they say in public, defending us against terrorism is a ways down the list. Power, reputation, perks, protecting turf, job security, pet projects, funding, supporting corporate America’s intelligence needs…these are the real obstacles to reform, not terrorist threats.

Like Dr. Frankenstein, Bush created a monster that refuses to be constrained by the rule of law. Obama may defend it in public, but my guess is that he is as afraid of it as we are and he has little power to bring the creature to bay. And, no one, not even a president, wants to get on the monster’s bad side.