Freedom
Americans are asking, why do they hate us? They hate what we see right here in this chamber -- a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other. -- George W Bush, declaration of War on Terrorism
The US is the land of the free, home of the brave. Give me liberty or give me death. No one can take away our freedom.
To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty; my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists - for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. -- John Ashcroft, US Attorney General
I'm willing to give up a little liberty if it will stop another 9/11. If you have a problem with the government listening to your conversations, you must have something to hide.
In other words, the terrorists want to take away our freedoms, so we have to give up our freedoms in order to keep them.
Labels: Civil Liberties, George W Bush, Security
posted by Cheryl @ 7:27 AM
3 Comments:
The Madison Co. NC Democrats held a grand opening last night for the 06 office building. A space is rented for 3 months prior to the election. I was talking to the Co. Sheriff. We were discussing eavesdropping on citizens without a warrant. He said that getting a warrant allows for accountability. Without that accountability the temptation to eavesdrop for personal gain is too great. Law enforcement officials are only human and the temptation to spy on political opponents, to spy for financial gain, to spy on other adversaries, etc. is just too great. It isn't difficult to obtain a warrant when there is a reason to be checking what someone is doing. That warrant becomes a record where the law enforcement official and the suspect are recorded which allows for oversight from other officials and hopefully prevents spying for personal gain.
Many if not most of the people who were members of the Nixon administration during the Watergate era currently hold office in the executive branch of gov't. It makes sense that they are still up to their old tricks of spying on political opponents. They, also, are financially very close to many corporations. I fear that gov't money is being used to spy on other companies or corporations in order to make sure that they have advantages over other comapnies.
What it boils down to is having gov't funded power for personal gain. To assume that no one would ever take advantage of that is naive.
"The US is the land of the free, home of the brave."
And yet so many Americans, when someone makes them fearfull, are not brave enough to hold on to their freedoms.
Deb,
That is a great example of why we need warrants. The FISA court will hand out a warrant for anything somewhat plausible. If the justification for the warrant is too weak for them, somebody's up to something they shouldn't be.
Dan,
I've long wondered at the hypocrisy of people who are so quick to threaten other people and countries, but then hide under the nearest rock if anyone tells them boo. Speak loudly and hide under a big rock.
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