Keep on Rockin' in the Free World
This isn't the promised "Other Thread". This one is just to comment on US District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor slapping the wrist of US President George W. Bush and the National Security Agency for doing warrantless wiretaps, ruling it unconstitutional. CNN has coverage of the ruling.
What made me post about this is I just had a short discussion with my Mother, a Rabid Republican. She has pictures of George Bush hanging in the hallway with the family pictures.
No, I'm not making that up.
I mentioned the ruling to her. She then stated that she doesn't see what the problem is. If you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't worry about it. I then mentioned 1984 to her and asked if she read it. She said she read it before the year 1984. I pointed out that that is the path the US is going down.
"If you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't worry about us installing cameras in your own household."
She then asked if I was a member of the ACLU - I reponded that I was thinking about joining them. That met with a snort of disgust.
I then told her that her willingness to sacrifice her rights and liberties merely goes to prove that those who attacked the Twin Towers are achieving their objectives of terror. The Freedom that we as Americans hold so dear (and many flaunt and lord over all the other countries of the world,without really understanding that what the US has isn't unique anymore) is the target of these groups.
Once the government can keep complete tabs on the people, who will be able to keep tabs on the government? The potential and possibility of revolution is every governments worst fear. It is also the peoples only hope when dealing with oppression and tyranny. The rights you trade away today may seem to be going to a government which has your best interests at heart (okay, I'm being extremely lenient with this statement), but who is to say that in 15 to 20 years the government will still be endowed with such endearing qualities? Prior to Watergate, the office of the Presidency was seen as a paragon.
Yes, there had been rumors of sexual impropriety (JFK and many others) or of potentially exceeding constitutional bounds (Thomas Jefferson), but these actions were either behind closed doors, not affecting Americans or they were done for the benefit of the country.
At least that is the perspective of the people.
With Watergate, this all got blown wide open. The President of the United States was proved to be corruptable. The title does not automatically make a politician clean. It doesn't automatically mean a man who has clawed his way to the top and compromised himself and his principles to reach that position is automatically a Great Man. He's still a Man. And Man is corrupt.
Christianity is based on it with the concept of Original Sin.
So, placing your safety and everything that defines you within easy reach of this corruptable position is folly, in my eyes. The Government of the United States is progressing more and more towards a paranoid entity, spying on its own people, afraid of them.
If they don't pull their prying fingers back and cover their probing eyes soon, they may find they indeed have something to be afraid of.
What made me post about this is I just had a short discussion with my Mother, a Rabid Republican. She has pictures of George Bush hanging in the hallway with the family pictures.
No, I'm not making that up.
I mentioned the ruling to her. She then stated that she doesn't see what the problem is. If you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't worry about it. I then mentioned 1984 to her and asked if she read it. She said she read it before the year 1984. I pointed out that that is the path the US is going down.
"If you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't worry about us installing cameras in your own household."
She then asked if I was a member of the ACLU - I reponded that I was thinking about joining them. That met with a snort of disgust.
I then told her that her willingness to sacrifice her rights and liberties merely goes to prove that those who attacked the Twin Towers are achieving their objectives of terror. The Freedom that we as Americans hold so dear (and many flaunt and lord over all the other countries of the world,without really understanding that what the US has isn't unique anymore) is the target of these groups.
Once the government can keep complete tabs on the people, who will be able to keep tabs on the government? The potential and possibility of revolution is every governments worst fear. It is also the peoples only hope when dealing with oppression and tyranny. The rights you trade away today may seem to be going to a government which has your best interests at heart (okay, I'm being extremely lenient with this statement), but who is to say that in 15 to 20 years the government will still be endowed with such endearing qualities? Prior to Watergate, the office of the Presidency was seen as a paragon.
Yes, there had been rumors of sexual impropriety (JFK and many others) or of potentially exceeding constitutional bounds (Thomas Jefferson), but these actions were either behind closed doors, not affecting Americans or they were done for the benefit of the country.
At least that is the perspective of the people.
With Watergate, this all got blown wide open. The President of the United States was proved to be corruptable. The title does not automatically make a politician clean. It doesn't automatically mean a man who has clawed his way to the top and compromised himself and his principles to reach that position is automatically a Great Man. He's still a Man. And Man is corrupt.
Christianity is based on it with the concept of Original Sin.
So, placing your safety and everything that defines you within easy reach of this corruptable position is folly, in my eyes. The Government of the United States is progressing more and more towards a paranoid entity, spying on its own people, afraid of them.
If they don't pull their prying fingers back and cover their probing eyes soon, they may find they indeed have something to be afraid of.
posted by Pat Marshall at 15:47
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