In the immortal words of Captain Tenneal, "... LETS GO!". Security... security is pissing me off. Where has our collective spine gone? At what point did the collective American liver yellow? The odds of death in a terror attack are astronomical. Truly huge beyond mentioning. A body is at higher risk every morning that they might fall and bust their skull open on the tub's edge. Yet people think that defence against this miniscule threat of terror attack is worth destroying our way of life, betraying the very principles this country was (at least intellectually if not practically) founded on. I've got news for you, IT ISN'T. Ben Franklin knew it when he said, "Those who would give up liberty for security deserve neither liberty nor security." If you want total security get a time machine and go live in Nazi Germany or Stalin's Russia (ignoring WWII). These are the kind of societies that result from a desire for total security. Security is another word for control. The more needless security procedures they impose, the more hoops we have to jump through as citizens, the more they track citizens movements, the more control they can exercise over us. The first 10 amendments to our constitution were demanded by many of the states before they would agree to live under this sacred document and its guidelines. Why? Because without the protection of those rights they knew the government would slowly desire to exact more and more tyrannical control over its citizenry. They knew that if it wasn't specifically spelled out in ink on parchment the new government would soon conveniently forget its high minded ideals as revolutionary fervor cooled. As Frank Herbert wrote, "Power attracts the corruptible." Those who have power want more. Power in essence is control. So based on the mathematical law If A=B and B=C than A=C, power can be achieved through the nice plush name of security. Yesterday I heard a news report regarding Iraqi police recruitment. Seems that the bastards that are so attached to the old dictatorial ways will beat and/or kill those who they find to be recruits. Yet these brave Iraqis come back to the training stations day after day even after being beaten horribly. They refuse to be intimidated. They will take the losses, endure the blows to uphold a dream that as of now is only a wisp of cloud on the wind, the dream of a FREE Iraq. They are exemplifying the kind of guts that I used to believe were intrinsic to the American psyche. Well ladies and gentlemen, our dream was in wisp form 230 years ago. It has since solidified into an unshakable rock. In the name of security, however, that rock is being chipped away. This pisses me off something royal. I love The United States Of America. I don't want to be a citizen of whatever they will rename it after they destroy all the founding principles of freedom. Perhaps they won't rename it. Maybe they'll just let it stand as the world's biggest lie. Maybe they'll keep the name in an Orwellian mockery of the values for which it used to stand: "LIBERTY and JUSTICE for all". So the next time the congress critters of the president tell you that you need to "temporarily" relinquish some of your rights (ie. patriot act) to fight whatever boogieman they come up with, remember Patrick Henry's words, "Give me liberty or give me death!" and the New Hampshire state motto, "Live free or die." Freedom was worth almost certain death to revolutionary patriot soldiers. Shouldn't it be worth the astronomically low chance of death today? Death isn't all that bad compared to tyrannical slavery. I'm going to run around outside my house hurling insults at the legislature now... because it's my right... and they need reminding...
- posted by Jeffrey @ 10:40