So Who is Really Losing Their Civil Liberties?
Oh My News International has an article about the revelation over President Bush’s domestic spying program. The author of the article does not agree with President Bush’s domestic spy program:
Americans should be concerned because it seems that Sept. 11 has become the catalyst for eroding the civil liberties of Americans. First it was the Patriot Act, now it is the domestic surveillance program. Who knows what else has not been revealed? The president is doing a great job defending the country, but how would he feel if he was not the president and someone else put this measure in place? He would probably have issues with it. The means do not always justify the ends. Sept. 11 should not be the reason to take away the rights of Americans. Isn’t it ironic that the issue that the Islamic world has with America is our freedom and now our nation is chipping away at it?
Many in Congress are calling for an investigation, but since the program is classified it would appear that the public might never know the scope of the program. Is this impeachable? Could our country have a second impeachment in eight years? One has to wonder.
I keep hearing from the left about our civil liberties being taken away. What civil liberties has the Patriot Act or the domestic spying program taken from me? I can’t think of one instance where any of these government programs effected my life but the President’s critics continue to hammer way that my rights are being taken from me yet they can’t produce anyone that has been falsely charged and imprisoned because of this program.
Basically the program allows the NSA to listen to phone calls from the US to a suspected terrorist. So if you are trying to call your Uncle Kim in Korea from the US; the NSA will not listen in to your phone call unless your Uncle Kim is really Uncle Kim Jong-il which of course the NSA will listen in to your call. No one I know of is a suspected terrorist and if one of my friends in the US is a suspected terrorist than I hope the NSA is listening in.
Yet this issue is continuing to be hammered away on by Bush’s political enemies in order to create an impression that the government is listening in on all your phone calls. These arguments are ringing very hollow to me because past presidents including the Democratic hero John F. Kennedy wiretapped people. JFK wiretapped Martin Luther King Jr. of all people and Bush is wiretapping suspected terrorists and yet Bush is worse and needs to be impeached. How come? Because Ted Kennedy the guy that didn’t care about the civil liberties of the girl he killed, said so.
How come Ted Kennedy does not complain about the civil liberties that have already been taken away from Americans that they can feel, such as teachers not being able to say the Pledge of Allegiance in some schools, or students not being allowed to say prayers in school. Then there is plenty of words that are de facto banned due to political correctness. The ones that claim to defend free speech are the first one’s to condemn those who don’t agree with them as racists. A perfect example of this is if someone makes an argument against affirmative action they are declared racists.
If the liberals really want to know what having civil liberties removed is like they need to come to USFK land. Here due to a number of reasons, some I agree with, some I don’t, these reasons cause the soldiers here to have curfews, can’t drive, can’t wear or say what they want to, and a host of other rules.
If USFK is not enough of a taste of what having your civil liberties removed is like they can always go to Iraq and see how the soldier there live. You cant’t even have sex there. USFK is trying their best to outlaw sex, but at least they haven’t achieved that yet with the human trafficking and prostitution campaign. In Iraq the military has accomplished this plus a host of other restrictions on the soldiers.
Now before someone accuses me of mindless whining remember what I said before that some restrictions I agree and disagree with. However, just because I disagree with it doesn’t mean I don’t follow them because I know there is a reason for the decision and I have to sacrifice some of my liberty in Korea for example for the good of the US-ROK alliance. It is the same thing in Iraq the soldiers there sacrifice their freedom in order to help advance democracy in the country.
The bottom line is that the military is doing all the sacrificing for the good of the US including not only individual freedoms but also our lives, and complains little, while the average American citizen is sacrificing very little under the Patriot Act, but complains the most. A perfect example of this is all the complaining about having telephone calls to terrorists wiretapped. Imagine what the out cry will be like if the NSA is caught listening in on two terrorists communicating within the US. Is it going to take another terrorist attack to get people to wake up to the fact that there people out there who want to kill us? I actually think the average American citizen is willing to sacrifice more, but the fight for political power in our country is more important than the security of our country.
Until another terrorist attack does happen, which the military and government though handicapped by regulations, are working endlessly to prevent, I foresee that the military will keep on sacrificing and the American public will sacrifice very little because politicians are not putting the interests of America ahead of their own ambitions. This is only increasing the disconnect between the American public and the US military. Once the public is disconnected from the military there will be no hope of winning the war on terror.
