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Should the US Government Spy on Americans?
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  The Government spying controversy continues to heat up. Last weekend, President Bush admitted that the White House has authorized spying on American citizens suspected of terrorist activity. The President has defended those actions as necessary and legal. Since then a Federal Judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance. News reports say Judge James Robertson had concerns about the legality of President Bush's efforts. And the New York Times has reported that the FBI has also been engaged in spying on domestic organizations, like Greenpeace and PETA. To find out what Granite Staters think about government spying, NHPR sent Correspondent Shannon Mullen to find out. She stopped people at the post office in Campton.
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I think this poll would have had very different results if the question touched on the real issue - should the President have unilateral power to direct U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies to spy on Americans without judicial review? In my opinion, this goes against the basic principles of a democratic system with checks and balances. There have already been abuses of this power. Groups and individuals are being investigated because they disagree with the President's policies - not because they they have links to terrorists. The most egregious example is the surveillance of the American Friends Service Committee, a pacifist Quaker group that works for peace and justice.
http://www.afsc.org/news/2004/freedom-of-information.htm
So if the question had been rephrased, "Do you think the President should be able to spy on Americans without judicial review, even if he may at times abuse this power?", I hope the response would have been very different.