Down And Dirty Rules

In her book, Tomorrow Is Now, Eleanor Roosevelt quotes Benjamin Franklin: They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

We notice when President Bush defended his unlawful authorization of domestic surveillance, he excused his behavior, stating that he was providing the American public safety from terrorists.

At what cost?

Is the cost of giving up our civil liberties, guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment, worth a little temporary safety? Have we become such craven cowards?

Before communism crept into the Soviet Union, the concept of civil liberties was just as murky. The Russians did not have a Fourth Amendment. They did not understand that under communist rules if one brother spoke of dissatisfaction with the government to another, they would be hauled away, literally in the dark of night, by the KGB. Imprisoned indefinately because they were dissenters.

Today, the Bush administration's definition of dissenter is terrorist. Listen up folks, a dissenter is exactly equal to being a terrorist in President Bush's dictionary.

And the parallel in history should terrorize you far more than any illusive terrorist for under the Patriot Act our FBI has the same authority as the KGB to haul you away and hold you indefinately, without trial, in a prison of their choice.

"Ah," you say, " I have nothing to worry about. I am not a terrorist."

That's exactly what Russian citizens said before the communist takeover.

Listen to Al Gore when he states: "The executive branch of our government has been caught eavesdropping on huge numbers of American citizens and has declared that it has the unilateral right to continue without regard to the established law enacted by Congress to prevent such abuses. American liberties have been placed at serious risk.

If you won't listen to Al Gore because he's a Democrat, perhaps you will listen to Benjamin Franklin?

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Down And Dirty Rules © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan