Hmmm. Gotta take the InstaGuy to task briefly, I think.
He the growing big media coverage of the failures of the Secret Service as an organization, which he’s been long ahead of the curve on. But his closer troubles me:
“Question: If the Secret Service can’t protect the White House adequately, why should we think a Department of Homeland Security can protect the whole nation? And if, as earlier incidents suggest, the Secret Service can’t do its job with a proper attitude regarding individual rights, how can we trust less-elite entities?”
The note of caution is appropriate — to a point. I’m no huge fan of DHS as its currently proposed, and I don’t particularly trust it. But Glenn’s criticism is so broad that it seems to suggest that we can’t possibly trust any government organization to protect the nation.
I suppose that might be true, but it certainly raises the question of what the alternative is.
Update: To clarify my point, I think my objection is best demonstrated by Glenn’s statement that the Secret Service “can’t” protect the White House properly. It’s not that it can’t — it’s that it isn’t. Identifying specifically why, and fixing it (and not making the same mistakes in IHS) is the name of the game. If we really are concluding that our government institutions are just inherently incapable of protecting us, then we’re in far worse shape than even my pessimistic views would suggest…