January 21, 2004 - Yesterday, before the President spoke, I wrote predicting the content of his State of the Union message:

It is a message that will be well salted with appeals to fear. It will call for even more growth in the power of the Federal government; more spending to impose limits on American liberty in the name of security; more intrusions into the lives of the citizens.

When he stood before the Joint Session of Congress George W. Bush his essential message was exactly what I predicted it would be. He told the American people to fear and to react to that fear by embracing the transformation of our system of ordered personal liberty into a comprehensive intrusion of the federal government into our day to day lives. He said:

“Each day, law enforcement personnel and intelligence officers are tracking terrorist threats; analysts are examining airline passenger lists; the men and women of our new Homeland Security Department are patrolling our coasts and borders…”

“… [I]t is tempting to believe that the danger is behind us. That hope is understandable, comforting - and false. The killing has continued in Bali, Jakarta, Casablanca, Riyadh, Mombassa, Jerusalem, Istanbul and Baghdad. The terrorists continue to plot against America and the civilized world…”

“As part of the offensive against terror, we are also confronting the regimes that harbor and support terrorists, and could supply them with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. The United States and our allies are determined: We refuse to live in the shadow of this ultimate danger…”

“Key provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire next year. The terrorist threat will not expire on that schedule. Our law enforcement needs this vital legislation to protect our citizens - you need to renew the Patriot Act.”

And there, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the theme of the President's re-election campaign. It is an appeal to our fears, the compliment of terrorist attacks on America . It is a campaign theme that depends upon our fear of terrorism to consolidate and extend the erosion of personal freedoms that had set American society apart from the rest of the world. It is a call upon the America people to cede to the federal government their essential liberty to secure an illusion of security. Thus the Republican Party, born 146 years ago in a confident hope for the extension of freedom, has become in this new century the Party of Fear.