It is unrealistic to insist on scrupulous attention to constitutional rights when the nation is threatened by people and organizations determined to kill us as individuals and humiliate us as a people, and who have repeatedly demonstrated their capacity and desire to do so.

On the other hand, it is a characteristic of the police mentality that when legitimate targets of their attentions refuse to cooperate and let themselves be easily investigated, that anyone else will do. I don't know if it's that the profession attracts a certain personality, or if in their zeal to serve they turn on those they are charged to protect, like an overtrained and underrestrained attack dog.

The founding fathers understood this, and the multilayered system of laws, procedure and process which restrains the authorities from riding roughshod over the citizenry is the result. It doesn't always work, and it is often insufficient or subverted, but it is there for reason and sometimes it is our only protection against tyranny.

To refuse to single out for interrogation or surveillance young Arab men simply because most of them are loyal or harmless ignores the obvious reality that most of the really dangerous terrorists in our midst ARE young Arab men. I have even seen detailed descriptions of dangerous criminal suspects leave out their race, presumably because it might offend a minority group. On the other hand, when the authorities start wiretapping Quakers and infiltrating Unitarians it is clear that the cops are either bullies or incompetent, or both.

One thing is certain, those who maintain "security" files are never as zealous about correcting and editing them as they are about compiling them. Once you're in the system, it is almost impossible to find out if you're in and even harder to get taken out.