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I paraphrased that one for my favorite quote...
there is never a circumstance in which trading liberty for anything is a good idea. Fuck that. I think that liberty is the most valuable of all things, and I am afraid of neither terrorists nor WMD's...if they make you change the way you live...they have won.
posted by
jimmy68
on April 26, 2005 at 8:00 AM
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D
I’m not going to say that the state of our country is horrendous, I’m not going to say that we’ve given up so many liberties we’re hardly free any more, but I will say that “freedom”, as the people who founded this country saw it, is pretty much dead. Perhaps the reason we feel that we’re still free is the idea of freedom has changed. As for the liberties that you mentioned, privacy was not one of them. Privacy is something that sure seems to be slipping away fast, doesn’t it?
But without going any farther on that, there’s one thing I’d like you to think about. Think about the American citizens whose skin betrays them. How many Americans have been incarcerated and held without any reason other than “They might be a terrorist”? How many of them have been held in terrible conditions, cut off from speaking to family for years? And it’s disgusting to think about how many of them are completely innocent. Does that not constitute a sacrifice of Essential Liberty? Don’t just think about what liberties you yourself have had to give up; remember the liberties that other American citizens have been denied just on a hunch.
On another note, the first ‘secondly’ has been disregarded. Also, I was born in 1984. If I live to see 2104, I’m going to wonder what in the world I did to piss God off so much to make me live so long.
posted by
Unidentified_Hacker
on March 10, 2005 at 11:01 AM
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Uni,
It's a good thought.
posted by
MiaElla
on March 10, 2005 at 10:30 AM
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Oops...disregard that first 'secondly." --D
posted by
Dennison..Mann
on March 10, 2005 at 9:58 AM
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Well, Take a Look At The Quote
“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
First, you'll have to define 'essential liberty'. Secondly, exactly what essential liberty have you sacrificed over the past three years? We can still express ourselves freely. We can still assemble freely. We can still arm our militia freely. I just can't see where we've sacrificed any liberties. If I've missed on, please point it out.
Secondly, anything we do today that differs from how we did it on September 10th, 2001 seems to be assuring us of more than temporary safety. I'm not too delighted at taking my freekin' shoes off just to board an aircraft but at least I know I won't have to wrestle some freak out the escape hatch at 30,000 feet. (And I would...NOBODY fucks with me.)
Thirdly, laws impact our 'essential liberty' all the time...cocaine was once an active ingredient in Coca-cola. Marijuana use was legal as recently as a hundred years ago. Drinking and driving killed many people on the roads until as recently as the 1980s. We're constantly sacrificing liberty for more permanent security.
Lastly, you'd have to define temporary security. What's temporary? Two days? A month? Two years? A lifetime? A century? A millenium? An eon? People in a fox hole sacrifice their liberty of parading around in the nude. Likewise, we can keep our heads down for a few decades while fanatics take lethat shots at us. I don't mind. The reward for Americans (and the world) in the year 2104 will make it all worth while. (By the way, I plan on being here for it. Don't you? Why wouldn't you?)
--D
posted by
Dennison..Mann
on March 10, 2005 at 9:57 AM
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D
I'm not quite sure how it might not apply across the board. What did you mean by that?
posted by
Unidentified_Hacker
on March 10, 2005 at 9:43 AM
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That Quote Did Come From The Mind of Ben Franklin
But it was from a different era and might not apply across the board today. I'm not so worried about terrorists and dirty bombs as I am about information gathering.
That is, as technology races ahead, humanity faces some deeper ethical questions. For example, after mapping DNA and developing the ability to read one's medical future from a single strand of hair, employers will find it more difficult to resist hiring only "healthy" people in an effort to protect their bottom line. In other words, they will project medical insurance costs for their work force and eliminate potentially sick employees as one way of reducing those expenditures while improving production.
As it is, I refuse to provide a DNA sample to any agency not conducting a criminal investigation. I worry that corporations will resort to hiring and firing people based solely on their health...and the cost of health care. America (the world) needs a viable, affordable way to provide all persons with sufficient health care so that nobody will ever face the spectre of discrimination because they might develop an affliction over the next several years of planned employment!
--D
posted by
Dennison..Mann
on March 10, 2005 at 9:42 AM
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I love that quote and have used it several times, too...I do wish
people would take it to heart. Good post.
posted by
Ariala
on March 10, 2005 at 9:31 AM
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Wow, awesome quote...
And boy, does it apply.
posted by
RachelAnna
on March 10, 2005 at 9:26 AM
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