“Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.”
James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, May 13, 1798
I wish I could say that I am surprised that the House has decided to manipulate the findings and recommendations of the 911 commission, but frankly I’m not. I am disgusted at the way our elected representatives are systematically dismantling our privacy and civil liberties in the name of security. While I have every desire to feel, and more importantly be safe, I do not feel that the government should have the ability to track the entire travel history of every American. As noted in the Wired News story, House Bill Morphs 9/11 Advice, many of the provisions (quoted from the Wired Article) in the new bill are just as scary:
- create a de facto national identification card
- allow employers running a background check on an employee to obtain records of arrests and detentions — not just convictions — without limitation on republishing the information
- speed up the implementation of the newest airline passenger screening system, Secure Flight, by requiring congressional approval after it is deployed, not before
- require the State Department to study the feasibility of a worldwide database tracking American citizens’ and foreigners’ “lifetime travel history,” including information on what countries Americans traveled to
- require the State Department to intervene with foreign media outlets and foreign governments to influence media coverage
- make it easier for the government to deport immigrants to countries where they might be tortured or to countries to which an immigrant has no relationship
- expand Patriot Act wiretap provisions and the ban on material support to designated terrorist organizations
- make it tougher for illegal immigrants to get a hearing to protest deportation
- prevent states from issuing driver’s licenses to undocumented aliens by changing what documents are acceptable at Canadian and Mexican borders
We cannot sacrifice privacy and civil liberties for security, without also sacrificing the freedoms that this country was founded upon. These are the same freedoms that the terrorists of the world are trying to destroy.