Tuesday, June 11, 2013

We are losing the war on freedom

It looks like America is losing the war on personal freedoms.  "Those who would trade freedom for security deserve neither."  Said Benjamin Franklin over 200 years ago and he was right.
That is precisely what is occurring in America right now and it looks like the majority of Americans are comfortable with trading their freedoms for the illusion of security.

Has the United States succeeded in stopping the illicit flow of drugs into this county?  What about illegal aliens?  And neither have they succeeded in preventing terrorists and those who hate this nation from entering.  Hells Bells!  Half of those stalking the halls of congress and working in government bureaucracies in Washington right now would have been on a government watch list a generation ago. Now?  They are driving the bus and throwing everyone else underneath

Public Says Investigate Terrorism, Even If It Intrudes on Privacy

 6-10-13 #2


A majority of Americans – 56% – say the National Security Agency’s (NSA) program tracking the telephone records of millions of Americans is an acceptable way for the government to investigate terrorism, though a substantial minority – 41% – say it is unacceptable. And while the public is more evenly divided over the government’s monitoring of email and other online activities to prevent possible terrorism, these views are largely unchanged since 2002, shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center and The Washington Post, conducted June 6-9 among 1,004 adults, finds no indications that last week’s revelations of the government’s collection of phone records and internet data have altered fundamental public views about the tradeoff between investigating possible terrorism and protecting personal privacy.
 Currently 62% say it is more important for the federal government to investigate possible terrorist threats, even if that intrudes on personal privacy. Just 34% say it is more important for the government not to intrude on personal privacy, even if that limits its ability to investigate possible terrorist threats.
These opinions have changed little since an ABC News/Washington Post survey in January 2006. Currently, there are only modest partisan differences in these opinions: 69% of Democrats say it is more important for the government to investigate terrorist threats, even at the expense of personal privacy, as do 62% of Republicans and 59% of independents.

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