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Old 12-30-2005, 07:00 PM
coffeecrazy1 coffeecrazy1 is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 59
Default Re: comment-questions on liberties/terrorism

[ QUOTE ]
Some naysayers of the Patriot Act, particularly those who frequently quote Ben Franklin, resign to allowing X amount of terrorist attacks so long as they have Y amount of liberty (I doubt any of them work in a downtown metropolitan skyscraper). To you I ask, what if entirely credible evidence surfaced, along with the open declaration by Al Queda, that Al Queda had possession of dozens of nuclear bombs and was fully committed to detonating them in American cities? Now how much of that X amount of terrorist attacks are you willing to tolerate from your suburban nests?

[/ QUOTE ] I guess I'm in this crowd. Strange comment about Ben Franklin, though...especially since right-wing types are usually the one hearkening back to a bygone era and the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, unless you are arguing that Ben Franklin is not a Founding Father. I also work in a downtown metropolitan skyscraper that is, actually, directly in the flight paths of a semi-major airport(Love Field). Your question is a bit dubious, too...since I don't know anyone who says we shouldn't act on credible evidence. I think our problem is the methods to which we obtain said evidence. Quite simply, the phrase "by any means necessary" is terrific for sound bites, and terrifying for domestic policy.

There are many ways to gather evidence that do not violate civil liberties. Why is it too much to ask that we gather our evidence within the confines of our Constitutionally-assured rights, instead of barging ahead, like brainless idiots, oblivious to the reasoning behind many of these protections?

Riddick, what you fail to grasp, presumably because you are blinded by your fear of the unknown, is that the only way the terrorists truly win is if they manage to scare us into no longer living the way we want to. That's what terrorism is...that's why the word "terror" is inside the term. What makes us great, and what the terrorists hate, is that we do not have fear in our lives, the way they do. They want us afraid. They want us to heighten our sense of alert, make us start arming ourselves at all times, never getting a moment's rest.

The truth of the matter is this: it doesn't really matter what we do. If a terrorist is motivated enough, and creative enough, then he can hit us. Does that mean we don't fight back? Of course not, but it does mean that we need someone to fight. We can't just create a phantom enemy...that makes us into Quixote. Punish action, rather than thought. There have always been lunatics in this world, Riddick, and I refuse to live my life in fear of what MIGHT happen, simply because there are insane people in the world whose particular psychosis is destroying the greatest civilization since Rome.
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