No More False Choices

In one of the most telling lines in his inaugural address, Barack Obama implicitly denounced restricting civil liberties in the name of national security, saying he would “reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.”

This both exposes and marks a big departure from the Bush-Cheney approach, which consistently presented Americans with false choices in order to further their flawed and dangerous political agenda.

Security or freedom, stay in Iraq forever or "cut and run" like cowards, free markets or crippling regulation, privatised social security or a bankrupt government, economic prosperity or responsible environmental policies. We could have one or the other, never both or never an alternative.

It's hard to believe after eight years of living with a lying, misleading and untrustworthy government, but it looks like the people in charge now respect us enough to tell the truth. Plus, they actually seem to have an interest in governing effectively, rather then simply pursuing policy to achieve political gain!