349 People? So damn what? Compared to the thousands if not tens of thousands falsely prosecuted under the label of "communist" for having done absolutely nothing more than been on the wrong side of someone else's personal vendetta?

McCarthyism was a witch hunt of the greatest magnitude in the US, and defines a period that I am most ashamed of when defining myself as American. And the senseless irony underscoring this truth is that of the 349 identified in Venona as having Soviet ties, some were not ever prosecuted, nor publicly implicated. Meanwhile, thousands of others never mentioned in venona were falsely persecuted. And under the blanket of 'immediate threat' that the communists posed at the time, the government was able skirt the consitution for sake of furthering individual political agendas and careers, like lead McCarthy Witchhunter Richard Nixon.

When learning about about such embarassing periods in american history, I remember thinking that we learned from our mistakes of commie hysteria, or being so easily sold on fighting senseless wars after Veitnam. Appalling to no end is that only fifty years later the same liberties are being given away under the new blanket threat of terrorism and fundamentalist extremism. Same government gimmick, different package.

The perpetual problem in democracy is determining the tradeoff between individual liberties and protecting national security. Remember that saying "Give me liberty or give me death" that rallying cry that america was founded on reveals which option the first americans opted for when given that choice.

It's painfully obvious that in the name of national security, government without checks and balances will NEVER have your interests at heart before their own. When faced with victimization by foreign terrorists or your own government what would you choose?

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