Eternal War

The War on Terrorism is the perfect war for the growing State. It will never end, thus the infringements on liberty made in its name will never need to be rescinded. Like the "War on Poverty" and the "War on Drugs" the "War on Terrorism" acquires new targets, new actors and new motives to match the times. Because it is a war not on some specific enemy, but on a fundamental facet of human nature, there is no danger of it ever ending. There has always been terrorism, as long as there have been people to terrorize. And there always will be terrorism. The more power the State has and the more liberties it takes in order to fight terrorism, the more it guarantees that there will be terrorists.

Decades from now, it will be no different.

As the line from 1984 goes, "We have always been at war with Eastasia."

Terrorism is our Eastasia. As are drugs and poverty.