Your point? The USA Patriot Act is an insult and an attack on liberalism. And if you reject the liberal commitment to due process, what will you oppose arbitrary detention with? We liberals oppose USAPA in the name of liberal values. You opposeit in the name of what?
As for your puerile idea that lawe is just a bunch of philosophical abstractions backed up with guns, what are you trying to say? Austin and Hobbes articulated a sophisticated defense of law as enforceable commands, which, however, is untenable--see Hart's devasting attack in The Concept of Law. But I think your reductionsim is supposedto be dismissive of law. That's foolish. We need enforceable rules for social conduct, or are you suggesting that society should not require those who make promises of a certain sort, e,g., to pay when you do something for them, to keep those promises? Should we just cluck disapprovingly when the authorities kill and steal, or should we be able to call on--ultimately--guns to stop stop them?
jks
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