Rolling over
When it comes to "civil liberties," I tend to want to play it a little "overly cautious." I think it's much better to scrutinize anything the government says it's doing for our own good than to blindly say, "Well, Papa knows best." And heck, I'm not alone in that. Listen to Sean Hannity or Larry Elder and you get the same perspective.
So I'm wondering about the phone tapping issue. My first instinct as a red-blooded American is to shake my fist at the idea of the government being able to tap my phone willy-nilly. No warrant? It's an excuse for abuse. But there's this other side of my personality that has heard the arguments - things like "we're only doing this on calls going over-seas" or "it's a matter of preventing another terrorist attack." Makes me want to just stand aside and let the good folks in DC do their jobs.
Except...
I was raised to believe that if you give an inch they'll take a mile. If we surrender even one fraction of a civil liberty it's gone. If we let the government have the complete and unquestioned authority to make a decision it will be for the government and not for the people. After all, everyone ultimately looks out for their own best interest. You can never trust someone else to decide what's right for you - especially not a collection of officials who as often as not accept bribes and other favors in exchange for a little "nudge" to the shaping of government policy.
No warrants? It's unconstitutional. I'm not making any phone calls overseas, or even sending e-mail out in that direction, so it's easy for me to spout my particular rhetoric. But even still, if I stand by and say nothing then one day I'll have no shoes... or something. How's that aphorism go?
I'm not much of a political activist. I see things my own way and I make my comments from the safety of a laptop miles from the action. But I voted in the last few elections specifically so I could counter the argument of "if you don't vote you can't complain," so now I'm complaining.
Fighting the war on terrorism - good thing. Use every weapon in the arsenal to hunt down these guys and put them out of our misery. But a line most assuredly must be drawn somewhere and if it isn't here then it's far too late already. The answer to the question of, "Is it ok for the government to do whatever it takes to fight terrorism?" No. Should they be allowed to wantonly set aside civil liberties in the name of this fight? No. Prevention? That comes from diligence and caution. It comes from changing the rules about who and what can come across our borders. It comes from withdrawing any outgoing funds that might be used by other countries to support terrorism.
Don't tell me that my privacy should be sacrificed for this when you're sending untold amounts of money to the very countries that are harboring these monsters. Don't sell me a line that a strip search in an airport is for my own safety when our own allies are refusing to cooperate with us in our war efforts. You want to crack down on something? Crack down on dealing with Germany or France or any other nation that has the GAWL to turn to us for support when they out and out refuse to give us any in our own time of need. We've rebuilt these nations and they are spitting on us.
"Freedom isn't free" is an over-used adage but I think the meaning is completely lost. Our freedom doesn't cost MORE freedom. Freedom is bought by the sacrifice of men and women who would choose to face grave injury or death in order that others may continue to live a life of liberty. THAT is the cost - not this pap that we're being handed by officials who want more power. Every inch we give might as well be a flag of surrender.
If we do not start taking action right this very minute we are going to lose this war. And I'm not talking about Iraq and I'm not talking about terrorism. I'm talking about the war for freedom that we fight every time we go to an airport or walk through a public place or drive on a public street. I'm talking about the war we fight every time we make a "private" phone call and every time we send an e-mail. Every time we visit a web site, every time we have a conversation about our opinions, every time we tune in to a radio station or read a newspaper or watch a television show we are fighting to keep the right to do so. And if we let them, the government WILL decide that all of it should be regulated and filtered by them, and our freedom of choice will be reduced to a smoldering heap of nothing at all.
J. Kevin Tumlinson is the Editor of ViewOnline Magazine at www.viewonline.com. He is a Producer and a Writer for his production company, Hat Digital Media (www.hatdigitalmedia.com). He feels free to make prank phone calls to Osama Bin Laden.
posted by Unknown @ 6:05 AM
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