In a free society, the idea that someone‘s dissent alone is dangerous to our safety because it is likely to incite or inspire someone to take up arms against us, shouldn‘t be less troubling just because we disagree with that dissent, as I suspect most Americans do in the case of al-Awlaki. Instead, Americans should be very concerned about the precedent such a policy sets and the way that it might be used and expanded by future administrations. After all, it is the vagueness of the AUMF, written before drone warfare was even a factor, that has landed us at this debate.