Why Ron Paul is slamming Boston's response to the bombings

Criticizing the Boston Police Department, which has been hailed for capturing Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, isn't exactly a PC move. Here, however, is former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) on libertarian Lew Rockwell's site:

He goes on to criticize our modern "surveillance state," and argues that "we have been conditioned to believe that the job of the government is to keep us safe, but in reality the job of the government is to protect our liberties."

While Paul appears to be alone in equating the reaction to the bombings with the bombings themselves, plenty of commentators from across the political spectrum have voiced objections to how law enforcement shut down the city of Boston. Comedian Bill Maher warned of a creeping "police state" on his show a few days ago, according to Politico.

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And others have said the government is prone to overreaction any time terrorism is involved. "Whenever the word 'terrorist' is mentioned in this country, reason tends to go out the window, and many other things go with it, too, such as intellectual consistency, a respect for civil liberties, and a sense of proportion," wrote John Cassidy a couple of weeks ago at The New Yorker.

Ross Douthat at The New York Times argues that such reactions could set a worrisome precedent if terrorist attacks become more common:

Last week, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D) defended the city's response, telling The Boston Globe, "I think we did what we should have done and were supposed to do with the always-imperfect information that you have at the time."