Rights is rights, m'kay?
There are those who don't care about any of them (at least those enshrined in the Bill of Rights; e.g., Mika Brzezinski), who think the right to keep and bear arms and the right to privacy from unwarranted government intrusion (otherwise known as the second and fourth amendments) are not so important, are out-dated. That is their new world, traditional rights are just an obstacle to be overcome. Well, to be honest, Mika and those like her care about rights as long as they are rights to things like abortion and gay marriage I suppose (no amendment numbers for those, BTW) or have to do with Mommies and equal pay and - would you like some cheese with that whine. Oh, yea, she wants to tell us how to eat, too.
Then there are people like many of the GOP politicians who are inconsistent on the issue of what rights are really rights and their inconsistency muddies things that should be clear. For instance, it makes no sense to be against limiting the RKBA and government intrusion and gun control via registration and then to support unwarranted surveillance. Rights is rights...we get them all or we give them up. Giving up one - especially one as important as the right to not have the government tracking your every move and word - starts us down the dark road to losing others.
Of course, there are those - some liberals - who are the other way around; actually willing to be appalled at lawless surveillance and its violation of our rights, yet more than ready to take other rights away at the drop of a hat. Again - if you take the axe to one of them, you diminish the others by implication; Bill of Rights - drop one then why not others, too? If the 2A RKBA arms is outdated (you know - "The founders never envisioned automatic assault weapons" ;<)), then so is the 4th, because the founders never envisioned terrorism and the technology that can be used to defy it. This is the instantiation of the famous "When they came for..." idea - if you let the rights you do not value go, then soon the only ones left to take away will be those you cherish - by then it will be too late because there are no rights - only privileges.
Freedom is about risk!
We do not need give up freedom to be safe! We do not need freedom to be like everyone else!
Totalitarian societies keep good order by knowing everything about everyone, by demanding uniformity and conformity to the extent possible. Wrong religion? Off with your head! Wrong politics? Off to prison with you! Our rights codify the risk that freedom entails.
A society that purports to enshrine freedom understands this, accepts the risk. freedom is unpredictable by nature. How many times since 9-11 have we heard the saying "Freedom isn't free!". Sure, this is most often used by war mongers who are not serving their nation and never have to justify the loss of precious American life and countless billions in wars that were folly at best and criminal at worst. But it has to mean more than that - Freedom isn't free because it means one must pay a price and part of that price is risk, uncertainty, potential loss. It means accepting responsibility, making a decision, taking a chance, dealing with consequences; that no one can be looking over your shoulder all the time, that you are self-reliant. Those who seek a clean, safe, risk-free world seek a world in which they are like everyone else, they are hiding away, they cower from life. Freedom is too scary - please keep me safe and tell me what to do! Not so long ago a President resigned over a wiretapping scandal - for bugging the headquarters of his political enemies. Now we exalt in an administration that follows in on all of us.
Walk tall, be free, live life, and accept that tomorrow is never guaranteed. That was once America - but terror works by making cowards of the unsure, cowards who are willing to give up their rights, abandon their culture, for the sake of perceived security. Thus it changes the nature of a culture, just as ours has changed.
"If you're not doing anything wrong..."
Speaking of cowards, how many times have we heard this one; you have nothing to fear from surveillance if you are not doing anything wrong. Pardon me for calling Bull Shit on this, but what a pant load! What is "wrong?" Do you mean "If I am not breaking the law?" Really? How does this jive with "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"? In case it is not clear from reading this blog, I believe in and exercise the RKBA. Not against the law...but I am told constantly (although I do not believe it) that a majority of Americans consider it wrong. It is not illegal - but will there come a time that it will be used against me? Do they track my ammunition purchases? Do they read this blog?
The vast majority of social control we are subjected to has nothing to do with formal laws and criminality. It is social consensus, social norms. But we are free to violate them without formal penalty - that is the nature of freedom - even if we are subject to informal ostracizing. We are free - have the right - to keep such behavior and thoughts in private. Is my personal business your business? The government's business? That it not your decision to make - it is mine. That is freedom.
The shit that most people are willing to accept just for the illusion of safety is frightening. It is, quite frankly, a sign of the decline of a free nation, it is terrorism creating a cowed nation and a defeated people. I'm too old to give a shit; between the safety of a government on my shoulder and the freedom that means the possibility of terror, I choose the risk of freedom.
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