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by FreeTrade 2907 days ago
The balance is between state power and civil liberties. State power is important to curtail crime and maintain order, civil liberties are an important check in preventing a state from becoming oppressive or pursuing a very unpopular course of action.

There is very little understanding in the UK, and in England in particular, that it is dangerous to allow a state to become too powerful, for its police force to be so effective that it precludes the possibility of the public removing a government that is not serving its people.