President George W. Bush claims that he is spreading freedom throughout the world. However, for him "freedom" appears to be more a slogan, devoid of content and used to harness U.S. nationalism for his own purposes. Freedom meant much more to the Founders of the American republic. They would be appalled at the president's crusade to impose democracy abroad and its resulting, but unnecessary, erosion of liberties at home. Bush’s attempts to renew expiring USA PATRIOT Act provisions, which were supposed to be a temporary enhancement of government police powers in the wake of 9/11, show his shallow commitment to freedom where it is needed most—here at home.

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Ivan Eland is senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace & Liberty at The Independent Institute.

This article originally appeared on The Independent Institute's Web site.