Hard on the heels of finishing Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, I come across this article which just heightened the sense of true possibility. The DHS is pushing for greater monitoring of virtual communications to go with their greater monitoring of physical presence. DHS Secretary Napolitano specifies that trade-offs of civil liberties are inevitable to stay secure. The founders of our country proudly hailed the philosophy that people who can give up freedom for safety deserve neither. How far has our population and our rebel spirit devolved that we as a people no longer uphold this philosophy? We are supposed to be the "land of the free and the home of the brave". All I am seeing in news stories like this is America becoming the land of the constrained and the home of the scaredy cats.
The Declaration of Independence may not be an official piece of legislation but it is no less true today than it was in the 18th century. A government that restricts the rights of the people to communicate, congregate, discuss, express, worship, visit, or otherwise go about their daily lives, in real life or virtually, is a government that has become a tyranny. Let us hope the DHS does not get its way in this current issue, or we are well on our way to the kind of marshal law described in Little Brother.
I am not a terrorist. I am just an American citizen who believes in the essential civil liberties our country was founded on.
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That was a great find and really timely! I spent a little time amusing myself with the comments before using my social networking skills to post the link to the article it to my facebook page :)
ReplyDeleteI'll take my chances with the terrorists.
The Freedom that we cherish comes at a price. The price is having a certain degree of hardness and courage. We as a nation are getting too soft, we want to limit what people say because we are offended, or because they might be a threat. I think we need to focus on the necessary courage to have freedom.
ReplyDeleteWow! That *is* just like in Little Brother - "As terrorists increasingly recruit U.S. citizens, the government needs to constantly balance Americans' civil rights and privacy with the need to keep people safe, said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano" could have been a quote straight out of severe haircut lady's mouth!
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