I'm a pro-capitalist, middle-of-the-road, tepid centrist.

With one terrible exception, the Civil War, law and the Constitution have kept America whole and free.

Is it 'left' to insist that presidents and CIA directors adhere to the law? I don't think so. I think it's American.

The First Amendment is very important, but it's not everything.

We Americans have a sense of ourselves as a moral people. We have led the way in the fight for human rights in the world. Mistreating prisoners makes the world see our moral claims as hypocrisy.

Over many years, the United States has worked to persuade and compel governments around the world to abide by the rules. By spurning our own rules, we put that effort at risk.