Politicians who place principle ahead of partisanship are as rare today as elephants at the Detroit Zoo. But count Bob Barr among them.
The former Georgia congressman is a charter member of the religious right. Arch-conservative doesn't begin to describe his politics.
Yet Barr is at risk of becoming to Republicans what his fellow Geogian, Sen. Zell Miller, is to the Democrats - a turncoat who refuses to toe the party line.
Barr is one of the leading voices opposing renewal of the most intrusive elements of the Patriot Act, the legislation passed hastily by Congress in the weeks after September 11 to strengthen law enforcement's hand against terrorists.
Barr sees large portions of the Patriot Act for what they are: a trampling of constitutional protections against Big Government bullying that ultimately leave Americans less free and less secure.
He's drawn the ire of the White House and many former Republican congressional pals by chairing Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances, a mix of groups across the political spectrum that fear the Patriot Act's impact on civil liberties. Barr's key ally is the American Civil Liberties Union, an alliance that is to conservative Republicans what Miller's appearance on the GOP convention stage was to Democrats.
But to Barr, being conservative doesn't mean rubber- stamping every position taken by the White House and the Republican Party. He defines conservative by a set of principles. Those include a healthy respect for personal freedom and privacy, as well as reading the Constitution the way it was written by the Framers.
By that measure, it's not Barr who has deserted conservatism, but conservatives who have abandoned their platform. In their rush to battle terrorism, they've forgotten that freedom is what the fight is all about.
For those who think only a liberal would make a stink about government overreach in as noble a cause as the war on terrorism, Barr offers five reasons why conservatives should be leading the charge against the Patriot Act.
1. It knocks the stuffing out of the Fourth Amendment, which mandates the maximum respect for the sanctity of a citizen's home and personal property. It establishes that the rights of the individual are equal to the power of the government. Isn't individualism a foundation block of conservative thinking?
2. It allows secret searches of homes and offices without timely notification to their occupants and permits the secret seizure of private property. These are police state tactics.
3. It permits the government to employ secret courts to collect data on the private lives of its citizens, ranging from library check-outs to gun purchases, without the judicial checks and balances.
4. It defines terrorist activity so broadly it could be applied against all manner of political dissenters, including pro-life demonstrators.
5. Finally -- and this is my favorite -- the power of the Patriot Act doesn't expire with the current administration.
Republicans may trust that George W. Bush won't misuse the extraordinary powers bestowed by the Patriot Act. But will they be as comfortable when a President Hillary wields them?
Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The News. Reach him at nfinley@detnews.com or (313) 222-2064. Watch Nolan Finley at 2 p.m. Sunday and 5:30 p.m. Friday on "Am I Right?" on WTVS-TV (Channel 56).