It would appear as though our government is eavesdropping on us. Our fear of exploding airplanes has been manipulated into an entity that the NSA and White house are using to garner more and more power. With power being such a valuable commodity, one could easily accuse the government of gouging our Constitution, and the freedoms that it accords us, in the midst of a disaster.
The special actions being conducted by our government are, by mere definition, unknown to us and therefore we are left in a position where we must give blind faith to people who proclaim to act on our behalf. Apparently, next we just have to hope for the best.
We must have blind faith that party loyalties and political alliances will not be placed above the ideals that we are espousing with this war on terror in the first place. And, we must have faith that this will occur in a terrain where party loyalties and political alliances assure survival.
Yikes.
It’s a shame that this issue, like most others, are squabbled over according to party lines and political correctness. Too many politicians lick their thumbs and stick them up in the air instead of considering what the right thing to do might be. Now, these people aren’t in the positions they’re in because they have done much thinking about what the right thing is. They’re where they are because they’ve kissed a lot of...babies.
There isn’t much room for a maverick in American politics. They just don’t fare well at election time when endorsements are sought. The backing, financial and otherwise, is given to those who have played the game well enough to be accepted into the most powerful clique on Earth.
The worst part is that if one does question the efforts of the government, they’re branded a traitor to something...their political party, their President or even their country. If they do that on a good day they run the risk of being branded a conspiracy theorist, therefore effectively diminishing their validity more than a little bit. If they do it on a bad day, they are most certainly a turncoat.
So, what are we supposed to do when the government snatches the ability for us to communicate in private? It would probably be a good idea to make very good use of our freedom to communicate publicly right now. We need to think about this while we still have the inalienable right to exchange ideas. Like a person who takes medicine, we need to consider which benefits outweigh what risks.
When Americans are attacked, we are constantly reminded to, “Do whatever you would normally do. The terrorists want you do be afraid. They thrive on it. Go about your business as you usually would. That’s how to defeat them. Don’t let them win by changing your habits.”
Well, is that not what our government is doing? Are they not changing habits rather drastically? They are grabbing more power and they are not a group known for giving back power back once they have obtained it. This time they are taking our privacy and those who question the move are told, “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.”
What?! To whom was the right to privacy guaranteed? Did we promise criminals that they could have privacy? Did we promise it to the terrorists? Or did we promise it to innocent people with nothing to hide?
How can the desire for privacy equate with having something to hide? That’s just stupid and an argument that only a very shortsighted individual would deliberate. It’s a very short leap from that line of reasoning to tossing people in a lake because, “If they’re innocent, surely they’ll float.”
Questioning our government shouldn’t be considered partisanship, it should be considered citizenship. And a good citizen should always exercise his freedoms or like muscles, they will waste away.
Total power is not exacted overnight...it must be taken slowly, piece by piece. A people must be desensitized to the loss of freedoms over time. An authority must come at you as a friend, acting on your behalf, in order to gain and maintain power over you. There must be promises of security and peace somewhere along the road to complete domination. It doesn’t hurt if there is a common enemy, a group of people that all others perceive as a danger to their way of life. And, of course, if all else fails, divide and conquer. It works every time, just ask Hitler.
"A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away."
"He only earns his freedom and his life Who takes them every day by storm."
Meg
The special actions being conducted by our government are, by mere definition, unknown to us and therefore we are left in a position where we must give blind faith to people who proclaim to act on our behalf. Apparently, next we just have to hope for the best.
We must have blind faith that party loyalties and political alliances will not be placed above the ideals that we are espousing with this war on terror in the first place. And, we must have faith that this will occur in a terrain where party loyalties and political alliances assure survival.
Yikes.
It’s a shame that this issue, like most others, are squabbled over according to party lines and political correctness. Too many politicians lick their thumbs and stick them up in the air instead of considering what the right thing to do might be. Now, these people aren’t in the positions they’re in because they have done much thinking about what the right thing is. They’re where they are because they’ve kissed a lot of...babies.
There isn’t much room for a maverick in American politics. They just don’t fare well at election time when endorsements are sought. The backing, financial and otherwise, is given to those who have played the game well enough to be accepted into the most powerful clique on Earth.
The worst part is that if one does question the efforts of the government, they’re branded a traitor to something...their political party, their President or even their country. If they do that on a good day they run the risk of being branded a conspiracy theorist, therefore effectively diminishing their validity more than a little bit. If they do it on a bad day, they are most certainly a turncoat.
So, what are we supposed to do when the government snatches the ability for us to communicate in private? It would probably be a good idea to make very good use of our freedom to communicate publicly right now. We need to think about this while we still have the inalienable right to exchange ideas. Like a person who takes medicine, we need to consider which benefits outweigh what risks.
When Americans are attacked, we are constantly reminded to, “Do whatever you would normally do. The terrorists want you do be afraid. They thrive on it. Go about your business as you usually would. That’s how to defeat them. Don’t let them win by changing your habits.”
Well, is that not what our government is doing? Are they not changing habits rather drastically? They are grabbing more power and they are not a group known for giving back power back once they have obtained it. This time they are taking our privacy and those who question the move are told, “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.”
What?! To whom was the right to privacy guaranteed? Did we promise criminals that they could have privacy? Did we promise it to the terrorists? Or did we promise it to innocent people with nothing to hide?
How can the desire for privacy equate with having something to hide? That’s just stupid and an argument that only a very shortsighted individual would deliberate. It’s a very short leap from that line of reasoning to tossing people in a lake because, “If they’re innocent, surely they’ll float.”
Questioning our government shouldn’t be considered partisanship, it should be considered citizenship. And a good citizen should always exercise his freedoms or like muscles, they will waste away.
Total power is not exacted overnight...it must be taken slowly, piece by piece. A people must be desensitized to the loss of freedoms over time. An authority must come at you as a friend, acting on your behalf, in order to gain and maintain power over you. There must be promises of security and peace somewhere along the road to complete domination. It doesn’t hurt if there is a common enemy, a group of people that all others perceive as a danger to their way of life. And, of course, if all else fails, divide and conquer. It works every time, just ask Hitler.
"A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away."
"He only earns his freedom and his life Who takes them every day by storm."
Meg
posted by Meg Kelso | 11:04 PM
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