Torture is wrong, regardless of where it occurs, regardless of who does it or why and regardless of whom it is done to.
Anonymity and privacy are paramount in a democracy. When the citizens feel their government is watching their every move and listening to their every statement, this will tend to stifle dissent and freedom of expression which are overarching values of a democracy.
You cannot end tyranny in the world by acting tyrannically.
You cannot extend democracy into the world by limiting it at home.
You cannot speak for open and accountable government throughout the world and then deny it at home.
You cannot advance liberty and then suppress it within your own borders.
The enhanced security at airports seems less designed to secure against terrorists and more designed to control the traveling public, to increase their inconvenience in traveling so they will travel less (making them easier to track and control), and get the public more accustomed to intrusions by the government into their private affairs.
As an observer of human events and the human experience I have discovered many patterns. From these patterns I have established several hypotheses. Of these hypotheses I have tested them and found most to be accurate from 90 to 95% of the time. As such they then constitute a theory.
Therefore, from the pattern I have discerned from observing the war on terrorism I present the following postulate:
The objective of terrorism seems not to destroy the United States but rather to increase the totalitarian powers of this Administration and/or the forces behind the government.
If we use this as our postulate, then the whole war on terrorism suddenly makes sense and we can see that this objective is succeeding.
Therefore, it seems predictable that events will occur to enhance the totalitarian powers of this Administration, whether it is by terrorist action, incessant war in the Mideast or some other activity or by some combination of these. Should these activites fail and the American public refuses to relinquish their rights in a timely fashion, then a war with China may be scheduled.
America will cease to be America if America accepts torture as a tool it can use.
America will cease to be America if we allow our President to tap into our phone conversations and read our email without oversight by the public.
America will cease to be America if we abrogate the rule of law, especially by the President, in order to enhance the security of the "state" (those who run the appratus of the state).
America will cease to be America if we cease to be good.
A long war has never benefitted a democracy.
Most people are unwilling to accept the whole truth. Most people only accept a partial truth - a small truth - only that amount which fits within their comfort zone. All people accept only that truth which fits into their belief system - their personal ideology. If it doesn't fit, most people will have one or more of these reactions: they will ignore it. They will seek to suppress it. They will malign it. They will vilify it. They will ridicule it. They will seek to destroy it. We can see then, that truth has many obstacles to overcome before it is accepted by most people. Those people who accept more truth must, almost by definition, be ignored, suppressed, maligned, vilified, ridiculed or destroyed by those who perceive a lesser truth. They who witness a greater truth perceive a wider and far different reality than those whose experience of truth is less.
We cannot defeat the enemy by becoming the enemy. To do so will allow the enemy to have won, regardless of what happens on the battlefield.
History reveals that the gravest threat to democracy has always been not from external enemies, but from internal parties who seek to extend security and wealth and power for themselves at the expense of liberty.
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