My referenced to Thatcher as an extremist prime minister with open fascist connections who regarded everybody who disagreed with her as 'The Enemy Within, and didn't believe there was such thing as 'society', is perfectly relevant to the present question.
The decision to remove our basic rights to freedom of expression/free speech, freedom of assembly, the right to privacy (which you apparently hold quite dear by making an issue of the misspelling of your pseudonym).... and all the other rights and freedoms that come with democracy, is ultimately a political one.
Am I prepared to put these rights and freedoms in the hands of Pinochet's friend, or Gordon Brown, or John Major, or Tony Blair (he of the illegal invasion of Iraq)..... or any other bent or incompetent politician......? No, I am not - are you?
Bent politicians aside..... am I prepared to put my basic rights in the hands of a police force which is answerable only to these politicians and who reserves the right to police its own behaviour and to act as judge, jury and executioner on any complaints brought against any of its members....... No, I am not, are you?
Am I prepared to put these rights into the hands of faceless and nameless members of various security services who have time and again proved themselves incompetent, corrupt and undemocratic.... No, I am not, are you?
Am I prepared to throw my hands in the air and abandon my and everybody else's democratic rights because of the threat of terrorism by a bunch of religious fanatics...... No I am not, are you?
AS far as I'm concerned democracy, whatever it's weaknesses, is a precious commodity and is constantly under threat, from corrupt and incompetent politicians who would love to be left alone to get on with their corruption and incompetence, from shadowy organisations who appear to regard themselves as being above the laws they claim to uphold, and from right-wingers like yourself who appear to look with contempt on anybody who doesn't have their heads jammed up the backsides of the establishment and its agents and representitives.
If, as you say, our law-makers are fallible, who gets to finally decide which of our democratic rights are valid..... the Government, MI5, MI6, The CIA, the police, the military, you, Nick the Nazi, Big Brother?
Jim Carroll
By the way - perhaps you would like to point out where I ever advocated or defended the maiming of police horses - you seem to rely heavily on smear tactics as a form of argument, as I remember.