Freedom vs Protection

When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing you may know that your society is doomed. Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.

My friend Denis said, "There are all kinds of unwanted casualties of war, Bilbo, and one is always some civil rights."

Which is why leaders love war Denis. The constitution is ignored as they consolidate power.

Denis- "You sacrifice to protect, and later you hope to regain those rights."

I do hope for the freedoms the constitution promises Denis, but, I suspect I will be long dead before we get free from the powers of our own government. For two hundred years Americans have said they would not mind giving up a little freedom for a little protection. Giving up a little freedom here and there has added up to millions of pages of laws, rules, and regulations on the federal register. So where is our protection? To give up a little freedom for safety is a one way contract. You give up your freedoms but you have no way to force the government to deliver protection. When they fail to follow tips and protect us, as in 9/11, they just collect their government pensions (guaranteed better than ours), with a cost of living raise, and retire to Florida, or become a Washington lobbyists.

Denis asked, "What the are the options?" (to giving up some freedoms).

Denis, my list of options are too long for this post so I will just start out with the idea that a search warrant should be required to listen on private phone conversations of American citizens. (The 'alleged' London plot was not detected by illegal wire tapping. It was old fashion tips and infiltration.) The best option is to require the government employees to follow the constitution, and stay out of other countries. The constitution will not enforce itself. Men and women who love liberty are required to enforce the constitution.

The argument that one should comply and cooperate with authority if one has nothing to hide is the argument kings and Caliphs have always made. The new Communist party started out that way. After the revolution in Russia in 1917 most of the population was happy and cooperative. Soon millions were killed simply because they dissented. Dissent soon becomes illegal in an authoritarian society. The communist party finally consisted of only 6% of the population telling the other 94% what to do. Everything became illegal. People who act like cattle end up in the slaughter house. I prefer to be a deer who will jump over the fence and roam free, even if I have to fight off predators.

Denis said, "It is wishful thinking to believe complete freedom can be available to terrorists and we remain safe."

That's Orwellian obfuscating. I'm not in favor of giving a terrorist complete freedom. Far from it. I think they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But let us make sure we are making a distinction between an alleged terrorist and one that is convicted of a terrorist act. During the recent thwarted "alleged" London terror plot I have not heard one government employee or media reporter refer to the suspects as "alleged terrorist". The fear mongers have already convicted and sentenced the alleged perpetrators, much like a black man in the south in 1930 would be hung as soon as a white woman said he did something bad to her.

I think Islam is the worst of the religions and I would be in favor of a constitutional amendment that would prohibit any religion that was not tolerant of another religion, or would not let its members convert to another religion, or leave said religion.

Our meddling creates enemies. The terrorists of future generations have not been conceived, but the propaganda to motivate them has been and is being created each day by our foreign policy. Our unborn children will be targets of unborn terrorist.

When I am forced to chose sides in Israel's religious war, or any other dispute, the other side hates me. For my whole adult life, 50 years, I have been forced to support Israel. I had no say in the partition of Palestine nor did my elected representatives. It was decided by a bunch of United Nations bureaucrats. The Jews should have their own country for security, so I vote to give them part of New Jersey, or give them some of our federal land. Yellowstone Park is almost as big as Israel. If people want to voluntarily support Israel, as millions do, go ahead, but their support should not be forced on others.

Bilbo Baggins