Send in the Drones

As a technological breakthrough, drones, or unmanned, remote-controlled vehicles, go back to the late 19th century, in the twilight of the Victorian era, when at a Madison Square Garden exhibition in 1898 inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat.

The public who witnessed the boat speeding around a pool of water believed magic or telepathy controlled the little vessel, according to Christopher Eger's 2007 book, "The Robot Boat of Nikola Tesla: The Beginnings of the UUV and remote control weapons."

Tesla called it a "teleautomaton" and tried to sell the invention to the United States military, but the government showed little interest, according to P.W. Singer's 2009 "Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century."

After more than a century of tinkering, drones (or as their manufacturers and users prefer, unmanned aerial vehicles) have not only been perfected, but embraced by the government as a means to wage war at extremely low costs compared to the traditional means of waging war.

It's not just a matter of waging war at low cost, it's waging war effectively at low cost -- drones can spy, search, target, destroy; and can do it with stealth.

And while drones are unmanned, a man, or woman, sits at a remote location controlling the drone, identifying its target via video camera, and directing where it's going to fire its Hellfire missiles.

Tesla's concept has come a long way in 114 years.

While a technological achievement, drones are also a moral qualm for many Americans; the idea of killing so effectively and efficiently and, at times, outside the limits of the U.S. Constitution.

That American law enforcement agencies are turning to drones for crime surveillance makes us more jittery about our constitutional rights to privacy, not to mention the government's limits in search and seizure.

Congress and the Obama administration are taking the proper course in starting debate on the use of drones, militarily and domestically. We're a democracy, right?

However, the laws and policies that emerge from this debate will likely lead to greater expansion of drones, particularly in the military. In fact, drones may will set us on the course to finally becoming what we've loathed to become -- policeman of the world.

The U.S. military is already spread around the world trying to keep law and order in remote and not-so-remote places. Sending off to do battle in far away lands is an American tradition that began with the Spanish-American War, which occurred the same year Tesla invented his "teleautomaton."

It may have been hard for the public -- and the government -- to imagine Tesla's vision becoming a reality in 1898.

But today, with technology changing the world rapidly, it's not hard to imagine American-controlled drones patrolling the skies around the world, and invited to do so by nations willing to pay or at least share the cost for such a service.

Like it or not (and there is clearly much not to like) drones are the future, but we need to figure out how they fit within our democratic principles.