re: #258 webevintage

Once you have determined they are terrorists, the question of who pays for their lawyer is sort of besides the point, isn’t it?

I don’t understand why the “we are a nation of laws” thing is so hard to understand. You don’t need laws to protect the popular. You need them to protect the unpopular.

We set up rules in advance so we won’t use our legal system arbitrarily. We say that you are presumed innocent and have certain rights precisely so we don’t have to figure that out a case at a time based on the popularity or unpopularity of a given case or defendant.

Likewise, we make laws (or enter into treaties) about what we do with prisoners of war precisely so that other nations will know that we will behave honorably under difficult circumstances and so other nations might do so in the same situation.

Does trying people in court cost money? Yes. It is way more expensive, in the short run, then is lynching people. (For example.) Or giving them some sort of process built on wax paper and chewing gum that is purpose-built to condemn people without a fair trial.

But we are America. We are better than that. We built this country on fair play and a respect for the rights of the less popular. The mere fact that fair play is sometimes expensive is not a good reason to pawn our heritage. And the fact that sometimes people will take advantage of our fairness is no reason to give up and become, say, Egypt.

I say it again: WE ARE BETTER THAN THAT.