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Politics : Libertarian Discussion Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (5558)	12/3/2003 6:23:42 AM
From: Tom Clarke	Respond to of 13056

Big Brother Baloney Bob Weir Quickly, take a look around to see if you’ve lost anything. Have you noticed any of your rights being violated? Have your children been taken away by the government and handed over to a work camp? Have you been kicked out of your home and sent to toil in the coalmines? No? Then what’s all this fuss being raised about Attorney General John Ashcroft turning this into a police state? All of the presidential candidates are running around the country screaming about the tyranny that faces us because of the Patriot Act, initiated by the AG. It’s become standard prose in every one of their speeches to add something like: “And the first thing I’ll do when elected is get rid of John Ashcroft.” If it wasn’t so tragic it would actually be funny because they have obviously created a crisis that doesn’t exist, and are now attempting to scare the public with it. According to these would-be chief executives, the fact that three thousand people were murdered by terrorists operating in our country doesn’t seem to be a good enough reason to clamp down on immigration procedures and get tough with those who have a history of terrorist activity. Recently, former Veep, Al Gore, criticized the Bush White House for using the Sept 11 attacks to justify “a major offensive against the freedoms and liberties Americans have enjoyed for centuries.” Instead of giving examples of those freedoms that have been taken away, Gore merely uses the tired platitudes synonymous with the sky is falling crowd of rabble-rousers. References to George Orwell’s 1984 and “Big Brother” have become the pathetic twitter of a party with no issues left to run on. Saying the administration has “recklessly put our country in grave and unnecessary danger,” Gore, like his Democrat colleagues, didn’t cite one example of this calamity in the making. How could he? Since 9/11 the US has not had one incident of terrorism on its soil. What would Gore and his cronies say if asked to explain how we’ve avoided attacks for over two years? Undoubtedly, we’d hear some melodramatic plea about the peril involved in sacrificing freedom for security. What would be conveniently left out of the entreaty is the fact that you have no freedom if you don’t have security. Another fact that is being left out of the discussion is that the Patriot Act was passed overwhelmingly by Congress, which means both parties subscribed to its tenets. It’s bad enough to play politics with racial problems, the budget, and the environment, but when national security is threatened such behavior is reprehensible. The Democrats have a long history of scaring the elderly by claiming their Social Security checks are in jeopardy, and scaring parents by insinuating that school lunch programs are going to be discontinued, but trying to scare the entire population by alleging some sort of fascist plot by the government to take away their freedom goes far beyond the ordinary political machinations of the party out of power. Are there no limits to the inflammatory rhetoric of the Left? Even to suggest that such volatile statements should be curtailed would surely be met with more protestations alleging restrictions on freedom of speech. It’s shameful that we have come to expect nothing less from a national party, so desperate for power that they have no qualms about demonizing a president and his chief law enforcement agent at a time in our history when the American people need protection the most. Moreover, the daily barrage of criticism over the war in Iraq can only serve to make our enemies more resistant to our efforts to bring peace in that part of the world, and create more danger for our troops. One suspects that the contenders for the Oval Office are secretly hoping for additional casualties among the soldiers in order to further their own ambitions. Those who wish death to America can have no better support for their goals than an entire slate of politicians decrying the efforts of their own country to eliminate terrorism around the world. Observing the craven tactics of the Deans, the Kerrys, the Gores, and other similarly unprincipled gadflies in the political spectrum, I feel profoundly blessed when I look at the man currently standing behind the podium bearing the circular presidential insignia. I’d like to continue feeling blessed for at least the next five years. Bob Weir thetexasmercury.com