pulling the emergency brake
You're correct inso far as
We all know that no American is going to get hauled off into the night by the Men In Black without dozens of friends, relatives, newsmen, civil liberty organizations, and battalions of lawyers making a huge stink about it, legal prohibitions or not.
represents the second line of defense when the Constitution has been weakened or is under attack. The fact that we're falling back on secondary defenses ought to be a red flag, Tom. If you have to use the emergency brake while driving, you really need to get the primary brakes fixed. It's a dangerous situation when operating a country as well as a vehicle.
Your basic thesis is "trust the government", and a few years ago I wouldn't have believed my eyes. In most other areas you'd argue to this day that the government will inevitably use every power at its disposal, and will always try to grab for more. Why the exception in this case? Will you be so complacent when Democrats are running things?