Freedom in America!

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”--William Pitt

Ironic that a British Prime Minister so closely tied to the American Revolutionary period would have made such a clear statement on what the United States fought for during the Revolution.  Make no mistake, he remains correct today, just as our founders were correct.  It is not Islam, Republicans, Democrats, that radical preacher in the news, immigrants (legal or illegal), guns, or any other thing the politicians and the media want to make you afraid of that you have to fear.  It is the government you have to fear.  Daniel Webster describes it like this: "Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."  Also, while there is no evidence that Jefferson ever actually said it, it has been attributed to him for a very long time.  Regardless, the sentiment is a fair one whomever said it.  "When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny."

Sure, there are real threats out there, but, Jefferson said it best: "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."  In essence, liberty is more important than the fear, so we need to realize that with liberty comes the ability of crazy people to kill you.  That fear is no excuse to abandon liberty as we have done with the TSA, DHS, and shutting down the people's mall in Washington with security gates whenever there's an event. Benjamin Franklin described this a different way, but the essence is the same: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."  I'll stick with Ben on this one.

So, tyranny is defined in today's legal dictionary this way: The violation of those laws which regulate the division and the exercises of the sovereign power of the state. It is a violation of its constitution.  The violation of the Constitution?  Any act carried out by Congress where no Constitutional authority (delegation) exists is unconstitutional.  This is true regardless of whether the Supreme Court says it is.  The Supreme Court after all, sides with the federal government 90% of the time whenever expansion of federal power is the issue.  Really?  The federal government is right that often?  I think not.

Now, the road towards tyranny is not a short one and it is not from one party or one President.  It has slowly corrupted every aspect of American government and politics.  Each successive President has expanded the "imperial" presidency by trying to usurp Congress or get around the law, particularly through the use of executive orders, to further their ends, it has culminated in the ridiculousness of Bush and Obama's executive orders used to get around Congress and their complete contempt (it seems to me) for the rule of law and the Constitution.  However, it was Congress who gave Obama the right to detain people indefinitely, it was Congress who passed the Patriot Act under Bush, it was Congress who created the Department of Homeland Security, it was Congress who established the TSA, it was Congress who set up special courts to try terrorists at Guantanamo, and it was Congress who decided they could stick their nose into whatever suited them, regardless of whether the Constitution delegated that power to them.

These are recent examples, but they are the worst for one simple reason.  They aren't temporary.  In the past, the people and government of the U.S. have "lost their head" for a little while when under imminent threat.  The suspension of Habeus Corpus and the trouncing of freedom of press and speech rights during the Civil War.  The treatment of German Americans during the first world war.  The Japanese internment during WW II.  The trouncing of rights during the McCarthy era.  All examples of government tyranny and overreach.  All of these examples were eventually turned back and sanity restored, once the "threat" that brought them about was removed.  However, these new laws and loss of sanity have no end in sight.  Terrorism isn't a threat we can eventually eliminate or defeat.  Unless one plans to nuke every single terrorist camp identified, which would essentially end the world anyway.  Therefore, if the threat of terrorism has no end, then the government has no reason to restore sanity.  So, these losses of liberty aren't temporary while the threat is dealt with, but permanent changes to the American way of life.  Therefore, I submit freedom is dead and that maybe the terrorists have won the war long before the final battles are fought because we have chosen security over freedom, just as Franklin warned us against.