Curious to find out what those who still support Bush and company are thinking, I’ve just looked over two dozen conservative commentary pieces.

The overwhelming theme of the Bush supporters is that they have unconditional trust in Bush.

They attack those disturbed by the NSA warrantless spying program, claiming that the disturbed are running around like chickens with their heads cut off and by so running, are endangering the security of the U.S.

I never once came across a conservative commentary that acknowledged what is objectionable about the NSA warrantless spying program.

I did come across many who asserted that Bush and company are only spying on al-Qaeda operatives. Moving forward from that assertion, the conservative commentators accuse those disturbed by the warrantless spying program of aiding the enemy and in many cases, bizarrely, of wanting to aid the enemy. I also came across two separate conservative commentaries asserting that homosexuals are behind all evils in the U.S., including the disclosure of the NSA warrantless spying program.

Firstly, even if it were true that heretofore, Bush and company have only been spying on al-Qaeda operatives, what is most objectionable about the spying program is that it sets a precedent for the government to be spying on anybody, at any time, for any reason. If Bush and company wish to use their abilities to spy to influence the 2006 elections, they are able to; and how will the public know whether they have or not?

If there were no way other than the NSA warrantless spying program for the government to obtain the information it is allegedly obtaining about al-Qaeda, we would have different food for thought. I say “allegedly” because while the Bush administration has been trumpeting the program by saying they have spied on thousands and thousands of al-Qaeda terrorists, there have been remarkably few announced arrests. Have the thousands and thousands been sent to CIA prisons in Eastern Europe?

In any event, the fact is that the existing laws covering spying permitted the government to spy immediately in cases of imminent threat, with the proviso that a warrant be obtained within 72 hours. If in order to preserve that safeguard, extra examining judges were needed, extra examining judges should have been installed.

The situation as it stands is untenable because it allows Bush, or for that matter, any future president, to spy on absolutely anybody with impunity.

The virulently anti-homosexual commentaries I read, furthermore, provide more evidence of why the U.S. government should not be allowed carte blanche to spy on whomever. The anti-gay prejudice currently prevailing in the United States is every bit as strong as the anti-gay prejudice that prevailed in Nazi Germany. Bush himself has very forcefully spoken out against full civil rights for persons who happen to be homosexual. Given the deep seated and extensive prejudice against homosexuals, combined with the administration’s self-given powers to spy without limits, who can guarantee that spying will not be used against those struggling for civil rights for homosexual people?

It is understood that the great majority of those supporting Bush are actively against civil rights for gays, and not only do not care that homosexual rights workers could be spied on but would actually applaud their being spied on. But the fact that those persons unconditionally trust Bush does not mean that Bush is to be trusted unconditionally. And the fact they do not want all groups in our society, and not merely their group, to have full civil rights, marks them as being unworthy of the highest ideals of the republic.