I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. -- James Madison

Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have. -- Harry Emerson Fosdick

The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts. -- Edmund Burke, letter, April 3, 1777, to the Sheriffs of Bristol.

It is seldom that liberty of any kinds is lost all at once. -- David Hume

The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. -- Edmund Burke

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. -- William Pitt, 18 Nov 1783

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. --- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.


Some quotes about liberty from people who lived in far more dangerous times than we.

Nobody doubts that life is precious and must be preserved, but I agree with Madison, Franklin, Paine, and others that in the long run, the state, even a “benevolent” one is far more dangerous to the individual and his liberty than a foreign power. What troubles me about our national response to terrorism, is that rather than do the hard things like control the borders, keep track of foreign nationals from parts of the world where violent, anti-US ideology predominates and aggressively develop/implement technology that improves security without hassling Americans who are just trying to get to work on time, we have chosen to search the backpacks of middle-schoolers and take nail files away from old ladies. I’m told by people who are supposed to know these things that the Bill of Rights was to apply only to US citizens, but I am sure that by now some judge has held that it applies to illegal aliens, too. Even those that have entered the country illegally to do us harm.

Does that mean that guests in our country from Abu Dhabi should have a harder time entering the country? Yep. (After 9/11, some wag on television said, “Remember, it wasn’t nineteen Norwegian Lutherans that attacked us!”) I can live with that easier than I can life-long Americans being stopped every fifty yards with the command, “Let me see your papers.” If I choose to go to Baghdad or Turkey, I do not expect to have the freedom for which the Founders pledged their “Sacred Honor.” But within the borders of the United States and for the citizens thereof, I pray that God will save us from the day when the bespectacled, leather trench-coated policeman can smugly say as we are dragged away, “Your papers are not in order.”

I’m not sure that day is all that far off.

A bit of a rant - Sorry. But I believe the issues being discussed are of fundamental importance and I felt obliged to respond. Even if it is not a pure survival topic ... but then again, maybe it is.

Randy P.