The political theorists would be proud....or ashamed

It seems over the last several years we've been entering a society that was envisioned by by both major social contract theorists, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.
Hobbes fled persecution from the English Civil War and was in exile in France where he began to work on his most famous work, The Leviathan. In it he talks about mankind, the state of nature and society. He says that in the state of nature (the time before the state) there were no rules and people could essentially do what they like. He advocated for a strong leader, known as the sovereign, who would have ultimate power over citizens provided he protected them. He had the ability to kill, to take away property and the like.

John Locke on the other hand also fled persecution in England. He did so because of his role in attempting to overthrow a tyrannical dictator. Locke agreed with Hobbes that the state of nature was an awful place however he placed a much greater emphasis on civil liberties. He called his ruler, the magistrate, believing that whoever ruled society did so at the request of the people and should the majority of citizens be unhappy with the magistrate they are allowed to violently rise up against him and depose him from office.

I mention these two theorists because i've seen something over the last few years that only the extreme left are commenting on.
The US PATRIOT act, the strengthening of ASIO laws, warrant-less wiretapping and the CIA's extra-ordinary rendition (i.e. torture) are degrading our civil liberties.
Whilst terrorism is a vile and disgusting ideology that only seeks to murder innocent human beings under the cause of either national liberation (PLO/HAMAS/Islamic Jihad), religious convictions (Al Qaedia) or political ideology (Action Directe, Baader Meinhof) it has almost a 100% failure rate.
The State of Israel still exists, the Americans are still attempting to quell the violence in Iraq and communism failed despite the terrorist attacks that have occurred.
Yet to torture and to restrict civil liberties is not the answer to fighting terror.
Mass bombing campaigns create animosity and anger. Torture breeds humiliation against occupation and the restriction of civil liberties create paranoia amongst the civilian population.
We may fight with a hand tied behind our back but at least our hands will be clean when we clasp them in victory.