There is no statute of limitations on murder and where the loss of our freedoms is concerned there can be no shelf life for the laying of blame against those who through whatever means take it away. We must keep talking about it. When one president worsens a problem with a new act or policy, we have to keep bringing it up regardless of whether doing so means we’re showing bad manners. When the next administration pops up and does nothing to reverse it and/or takes it a step further then we’ll have two presidents to talk about and so on. I will withdraw my tongue when the government withdraws their insane legislation and returns what is/was theirs to the people.
Sometime after 911 when the talk of travel restrictions began, we started to hear from the “Just a littles.” The Just-a-littles are the people who think that safety can be kept if we give up “just a little” freedom. Wherever government and politics are involved there is no such thing as “just a little.” Once a policy is enacted it is seldom rescinded. When the scope of a proposed program has been met a new justification is cobbled together to reposition the program and give it perpetuity. The yolk is never lifted from the back of the taxpayer because of this method. So when we give up a little freedom for a little safety, eventually the government will take a little more of the former and give a little less of the latter. It leads to the people staring up at cameras and being gone over and questioned numerous times…giving up this thumbprint and that fingerprint. To paraphrase Franklin, anyone who is willing to make such a corrupt bargain deserves neither freedom nor safety. I would rather live one minute as a free man than a lifetime as a slave.
In the 80s when I was in my early twenties and was looking ahead to the year 2000 I thought we would have worked through a lot of this stuff by now. We’re in the last year of the first decade and the 21st century has been a disappointment. It’s like living in a slowly creeping garbage compactor having to shrink back a little each time the walls move and stay on top of the pile except that the pile is people, not trash. I’m not wiling to ignore it anymore and it’s never been okay.
It does feel like we are going backwards in our freedoms. And I’m with you, any freedoms we lose NOW will pale in comparison to what will happen inch by inch in our future if fighting terrorism comes to mean controlling all Americans.
I agree. I live in Europe, where I can get through security in an instant, don’t have to disrobe, and can actually carry stuff on the plane (unless it is ryanair, but they just want me to pay them more money) – yet it is just as safe, because they are not interested in “making a show.” That is all the US security is, a big show. The effort is to look like you are doing something, not to do anything useful.
The worst thing about the US is that the “just for show laws” have to be enforced, at least in most european countries, they are ignored – along with most other laws, but that is another comment!