No Research Again?

This week, "Fear of Terrorism, Terrorism of Fear" makes some suggestions that show through and through that Mr. Smart and the Lancaster Newspapers do not thoroughly review their paper.

Let me show an example:

...For conservatism in its current form is largely predicated upon fear. Fear of the big bad "Islamo-fascist" wolf; fear that this nation, the mightiest ever to stride the earth, could be decimated, not just harmed but actually brought to its knees, by terrorism.

The notion is ridiculous. Even the absolute worst-case scenario, a dirty bomb in a crowded urban center, could not destroy us. Yet we proceed as if it would. And in so doing, we may destroy ourselves.

If you consider the measures passed these past few years, the Patriot Acts, the warrantless wiretapping, we see a government that has in place the apparatus by which the population might be monitored and controlled...

Read the bold lettering.

Now look at the votes on these issues.

HR 3162 Vote Summary for the House

HR 3162 Vote Summary for the Senate

In the House, 145 Democrats voted YES to the Patriot Act. 62 did not.

In the Senate, all but two voted YES to the Patriot Act. One was absent.

Also, the "warrantless wiretapping" bill can be found here. Background.

All this did was update an existing law called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.

This would have been the 95th Congress (1977-1979), Majority Party: Democrat (61 seats), Minority Party: Republican (38 seats) and 1 Independent. (Source)

Do some research next time?