Arthur Silber over at The Light of Reason is back on top of the torture issue--with observations of his own and of Hannah Arendt .

Arthur points out, rightly so in our opinion, that "the grant of any government power will always grow, including the grant of the power to use torture to elicit information."

That's one of the reasons we so oppose giving up our civil liberties and constitutional rights. Once you give up a little, it becomes easier for the Government to reach for more the next time around. Taken in little bits and pieces, whether it be surveillance cameras at traffic intersections or the Superbowl, or a national id card, the encroachments don't seem so bad. But such measures are not that many steps from other, very objectionable proposals now being tossed about--for example CAPSII and color-coding airline passengers and doing credit checks before allowing those designated a certain color to fly.

Back to torture, go over and read Arthur, he's put a great deal of thought into the subject, and today analyzes the linkage between torture and totalitarianism, in part relying upon the works of Hannah Arendt, including her "monumental work," The Origins of Totalitarianism.