Where are the Principles

During the Bush years there was no shortage of folks willing to scream that the policies of war without justification, torture, detainment without charge and domestic spying were tyranny in the making.  And the simple fact is these charges were true.  Unfortunately the only people that voiced these opinions were some liberals, libertarians and paleoconservatives.

Case is point is Keith Olbermann. In what is now called his "Beginning of the End of America" monologue he tackled the the subject of the Military Commissions Act correctly.  That act combined with the Patriot Act before and a slew of enactments for 140 years previous indeed gave our government unprecedented power, a power to be feared.  Olbermann spoke truth, the sort of truth that is born of commonsense. (it is apparent that since commonsense is indeed common groups from all sides of the political divide can occasionally use it to make their points)

One must ask however...where are these voices of reason from the left now?

• Where were they when Obama signed an extension of the Patriot Act without any of the reforms true Patriots believed were required? (the best reform being not extending the nefarious law at all)
• Where are the liberals that protested what they believed to be Bush's private torture camp at Guantanamo?  Has Obama closed the operations there?
• And what of the "Anti-War" crowd that seems to be so silent now?  It seems the only voices that remain are the libertarians and paleoconservatives.  Perhaps all those liberal "anti-war" types were not protesting based upon principle but rather politics.
• Where is the protest from "civil-libertarians" over the intrusive and oppressive health care agenda?

There is but silence from the left because their attacks on Bush were never based upon a principled position.

I suppose that a president that received the Nobel Peace Prize ought to be given a bit of slack.  Never mind that he was just a few months into his term, had done nothing  "visionary" yet and was prosecuting the same wars that that "evil Bush" started - in the liberal mind I guess none of that matters, "he means well". He deserved that award and how dare anyone even question his motives - or so we are told.

In that the Tea Party crowd is primarily an anti-Obama movement there should be shame.  A stand on principles tells us there is much rotten with our system with both parties.  One could and should ask the same sort of questions of the Tea Party types in terms of abuses under Bush - and perhaps ask where they will stand on "freedom and small government" once we get rid of Obama.

I agree that individuals should be questioned - the citizenship status of Obama should be clarified now rather than 50 years hence when historians uncover the truth and add it as just a footnote to history.  However these matters seem to miss the bigger picture.

There are principles to be considered and it would be encouraging to see more people live and act according to those principles.  Perhaps then we would get fewer scoundrels in need of investigation and vetting.