Musing: With below stories in mind

An unpopular law of the past:
Oral History Interview with Karl R. Bendetsen New York City, New York October 24, 1972 Jerry N. Hess - "The Selective Service Act of August 16, 1940 would expire on August 16, 1941 if not extended by congressional action. The Senate had voted for extension in a relatively close vote. In the House there were great pressures to let the Act die. Most people have probably forgotten how some of the draftees and many others were behaving in those days. Draft cards were publicly burned. There were riots. There was a concerted effort to end the draft. It was a "rehearsal" for the anti-Vietnam demonstrations.
The bill came to the floor of the House for debate a very short time before it was due to expire, about seven days as I recall. Mr. [Sam] Rayburn was Speaker of the House. He was for extension.
The Speaker said, "We will see what happens. I can’t predict the result." He handled the situation masterfully. A final vote was soon taken. It was the then to become famous vote of 201 to 200 in favor. Mr. Rayburn banged the gavel at a critical moment and declared the Bill had passed. If he had not banged it at the precise moment he did, the vote would have been reversed in the next few minutes. The fainthearted Congressmen who had voted "aye" would have switched their votes when they realized that there were 200 votes against. The Speaker sensed this and he knew his parliamentary rules full well. If the nation owed anyone a debt, it was to him for that forthright action. He later told us in his office that as he raised the gavel, he saw five "doves" on the way to the floor of the House. He knew they would sink the extension!"
Secret government work of the past:
Military Intelligence Between Wars
"In the fall of 1919 retired Maj. Herbert O. Yardley, wartime chief of MI-8, set up a clandestine government cryptanalytic unit in a brownstone house in New York City. Jointly funded by MID and the State Department, Yardley's bureau continued to work on diplomatic code-breaking, a task that MI-8 had initiated in World War I. Using material provided secretly by some of the major U.S. cable companies, Yardley and his small civilian staff achieved several notable successes, the most important of which was breaking the Japanese diplomatic code in time to give American diplomats a key negotiating edge during the Washington Peace Conference of 1921-1922.
When Henry L. Stimson, a rather excessively upright statesman of the old school, became secretary of state that year, Yardley's fate was sealed. Discovering that the State Department had obtained access to decoded diplomatic messages, Stimson withdrew funding from Yardley's bureau. His attitude was later described: "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail."
Then Pearl Harbor:
World War II - Military Intelligence at the Center
"Largely because of the success of British and American cryptanalysts in exploiting enemy communications, the Army ultimately was provided with better intelligence than it had ever enjoyed in its history.
Yet all during the war, there was a constant drumfire of criticism directed against Military Intelligence. In late 1943 Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson agreed with his colleague, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, that "our two intelligence services are pretty bum."
Immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack, Secretary of War Stimson called upon a prominent Chicago lawyer, Alfred McCormack, to examine the implications of the problem. McCormack recommended the creation of a branch within the Military Intelligence Service to deal with the processing of communications intelligence."
While at a later time:
The Korean War: The SIGINT Background
The Stalemate
"On the other side of the world from the combat zone in Korea, COMINT assisted the war effort by exposing Soviet spies in key positions. In Washington and London, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, British diplomats, and some colleagues were able to provide the Soviets with detailed information from the highest levels about U.S. atomic bomb stockpiles, U.S. and British policy prior to the Korean War, war plans, and - perhaps most important of all - the restrictions on U.S. commanders in Asia which prevented them from carrying the war to Soviet or Chinese territory.
Maclean was exposed when cryptanalysts working on the VENONA project recovered and translated enough messages about his work to identify him. Harold "Kim" Philby, a co-conspirator with access to VENONA, warned him and Burgess; the two then fled to the USSR.
Despite the failure to arrest the conspirators, the leak of vital policy and intelligence secrets was stanched."
Now we hear of:
"One of the first actions we took to protect America after our nation was attacked was to ask Congress to pass the Patriot Act.
Yet key provisions of this law are set to expire in two weeks. The terrorist threat to our country will not expire in two weeks. The terrorists want to attack America again, and inflict even greater damage than they did on September the 11th. Congress has a responsibility to ensure that law enforcement and intelligence officials have the tools they need to protect the American people.
The House of Representatives passed reauthorization of the Patriot Act. Yet a minority of senators filibustered to block the renewal of the Patriot Act when it came up for a vote yesterday. That decision is irresponsible, and it endangers the lives of our citizens. The senators who are filibustering must stop their delaying tactics, and the Senate must vote to reauthorize the Patriot Act. In the war on terror, we cannot afford to be without this law for a single moment.
To fight the war on terror, I am using authority vested in me by Congress, including the Joint Authorization for Use of Military Force, which passed overwhelmingly in the first week after September the 11th. I'm also using constitutional authority vested in me as Commander-in-Chief.
This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security. Its purpose is to detect and prevent terrorist attacks against the United States, our friends and allies. Yesterday the existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports, after being improperly provided to news organizations. As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk. Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies, and endangers our country.
This authorization is a vital tool in our war against the terrorists. It is critical to saving American lives. The American people expect me to do everything in my power under our laws and Constitution to protect them and their civil liberties. And that is exactly what I will continue to do, so long as I'm the President of the United States."

If we play by some twisted rules that control one side and not the other then there will be little wonder why the game is lost.