United States of Chickenshits
Lex has done a good job of describing the false argument being made by way too many damn people that we somehow have to choose between privacy and security. As he points out, there are hundreds of things we could do to make ourselves more secure that would not require loss of freedoms but they would require money. Money that would have to come out of rich peoples' pockets and they ain't giving. Instead the current administration is using the 9/11 attacks to do what they've always wanted to do anyway - take total control of the lives of American citizens. I was looking through some files a few weeks ago and ran across an article on some of the Heritage Foundation's publications at the time of Reagan's first term in 1980. They involve many of the erosions of our rights that we're seeing being taken away now in the name of security.Got a question for you - why didn't we see this kind of outcry after the Murrah Building bombing? Is it because it was a Federal building and at the time, the people that are now calling for more government oversight were screaming for less? Is it because it was a yokel white boy instead of someone with dark skin? Was 168 people dead not enough?
Frankly, the only conclusion I can draw is that most Americans are xenophobic chickenshits. I was not unaffected by the 9/11 attacks. I still think about the towers falling every single day. I am not a clockwatcher, but I "happen" to look at a clock at precisely 9:11 at least one of the two possibilities every day. But I am nowhere near being ready to sign over 200 years of the Bill of Rights to cower in my basement in case of another attack. Sure, I know Chapel Hill is hardly a prime target for the next attack so maybe you think this is easy for me to say, but then probably 99% of Americans are in no more of a target area than I am. And I do fly and I do travel and I do expect the government (ALL levels of government) to take reasonable actions to prevent further attacks. I'm still waiting for them to do that - instead they use terror warnings for political effect (have we had a raised alert level since the November election?), perform illegal wiretapping, invade countries that were not a threat to us and then DON'T do the things that might actually make us safer. But boy, it plays well with the chickenshits, doesn't it?
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Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
Benjamin Franklin
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