| You cannot defend freedom by taking it away from others. If you believe in freedom, you are forced to defend the freedom of those you despise, and defend their right to publicly deliver a message you hate. Suppression of dissent is tyranny, no matter who is doing the suppressing. – Steven Den Beste |
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The civil liberties of Americans are threatened on a number of fronts. Many politicians, on the left as well as the right, are using American's high violent crime rate to push through numerous measures which threaten freedom. These include the War on Drugs, an increase in the application of the death penalty, various attempts to increase the use of polygraphs, and the kind of domestic spying that led to the resignation of President Nixon. The PATRIOT Act is a recent addition, as is the treatment of enemy combatants. A not-so-recent addition is the weakening of the Fourth Amendment.
In my view, the true causes of crime are inner city poverty and the War on Drugs. If not for these problems, the U.S. violent crime rate would be lower than that of Western Europe. We should focus on these causes before we even think about depriving people of their rights. One of the worst Presidents in recent memory, in terms of attacks on civil liberties, was Bill Clinton. Clinton's offenses included domestic spying, warrantless searches, and pointless wars. Unfortunately, even many of his opponents chose to ignore his real crimes. The role of the U.S. Supreme Court, in interpreting the Constitution and thus restraining government, has been much debated in Miranda and in various free speech cases. Media bias is an oft-argued issue. Here are some examples of how the media has either ignored or distorted the truth, in the name of political correctnesss. If you feel, as I do, that you're not comfortable with either the "liberal" or "conservative" label, you'll appreciate either a serious attempt to understand those terms, or a sarcastic one. Top |