Glenn Greenwald: The GOP war on the private sphere

(updated below)

With the bulk of the nation's political attention devoted to the Bush administration's radical terrorism and war policies, the relentless domestic invasions into the private realm of adult Americans usually go unnoticed. But underneath the media radar, the administration and its Congressional allies have been actively placating the religious "conservative" wing of the Republican Party through all sorts of liberty-infringing and highly invasive measures. On every level, it is difficult to envision a political party more hostile to individual liberty than the current Bush-led Republicans.

One of the leading items on the agenda of religious conservatives is their desire to prevent adult citizens who want to gamble from doing so -- not by persuading them of the evils of gambling, but by abusing the power of the federal government to make it a criminal offense for those adults to choose to gamble. Two weeks ago, Congressional Republicans, led by Sens. Bill Frist and John Kyl, attached a broad anti-gambling provision onto a bill designed to enhance port security, which means that nobody could vote against it. That provision "prohibit[s] gamblers [i.e., adults] from using credit cards, checks and electronic fund transfers to settle their online wagers," and it also dramatically enhances the enforcement powers of the federal government to arrest and imprison adults who choose to spend the money they earn by sitting in their homes and gambling online.