"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs.
June 12, 2013
By: Linda Case Gibbons
So how much liberty can you afford to give away? And what will you do when you discover it’s all gone and there’s no way to get it back?
There comes a time to say "No more” when it comes to your liberty. We did it with England. The odds were stacked against us and we put up with it for a while. We gave and gave and the king took. It was clear the balance was all wrong and there came a time when it was clear that it could not continue.
King George III didn’t care about the rights of the colonists. They were his "subjects,” to do with whatever he saw fit. And he saw the colonies as a cash cow. That’s what the Boston Tea Party was all about.
The only real difference between then and now is that then the colonists saw the situation as it was. It was common sense.
It is not any less clear today. In fact it’s the same situation. It’s why everything happening today seems so familiar. We’ve seen it before when "we the people” were under the thumb of the King of England.
We saw being penalized with burdensome taxes was unjust.
We pushed back against British soldiers being quartered in our homes.
We stood up and said "no” to being targeted as our homes were searched by British soldiers at the will of the Crown, without a warrant.
We held fast to our muskets when the king tried to take them, knowing that having them was a hedge against the aggressions of any man.
We came to these shores to have the right to worship in the religion of our choice, the right to speak freely, even about unpopular issues, without fear of reprisal from the Crown.
It was about liberty, and brave Americans in colonial America stood firm and took back their power. They said "no more” and created a government and a country and a Constitution that was unparalleled in the world in the liberties it provided to its citizens.
They started by making a list of rights. They vowed never to give up these rights and swore never again to be governed by a despot. They knew how dangerous it was to allow a monarch to continue unbridled by any laws, and they vowed never to have that happen again. Not in this country.
Wouldn’t we be fools to willingly give up these rights? We never have, until now, but little by little we are allowing our unalienable rights to slip away without a fight.
Why are we doing that? Are we fools? Have we enjoyed our rights for so long without sincere reflection that we think these rights will continue without protecting them? Are we deliberately denying the fact that there are people who want to take these rights away?
Given the administration we have, with the level of duplicity and incompetence that it has displayed, given the inferior moral quality of the people in this administration, how much of the Bill of Rights are you willing to give away to them?
Do you trust them to "not read your e-mails,” "not listen to your phone calls?”
Do you trust a Lisa Jackson, an Eric Holder, a Hillary Clinton, a Barack Obama not to use information gathered secretly about citizens suspected of no crimes? These are people who twist the law to suit whatever corner they have backed themselves into.
So do you trust them to "do the right thing” for your welfare and the good of the country? The truth is that Obama wants to take away every one of the amendments in the Bill of Rights. Then he wants the whole Constitution to go away.
Haven’t you been paying attention? Haven’t you been aware of the scandals, the endless Congressional hearings where his minions are questioned but no answers are forthcoming?
Haven’t you been paying attention? Haven’t you been aware of this emotionally unavailable president who never addresses the tough problems, who refuses to answer questions about those problems, but who is more than willing to take credit for the take-down of Osama bin Laden, complete with photos?
He shamelessly uses every tragedy to campaign for gun control. That’s the Second Amendment down the drain. He ignores the fact that none these tragedies could have been prevented since they were committed by mentally ill people. But he says, "Trust me. Hand over your guns.”
Can you trust him?
His government spies on its citizens secretly and he says "Trust me. Don’t be selfish. It’s for the national security.” That’s the Fourth Amendment down the drain.
He constructively "quarters soldiers” in your houses without your consent, without a warrant, by monitoring your e-mails and phone calls and tells you it is necessary for the good of the country. That’s the Third Amendment down the drain.
He uses the agencies of his government to bully, target and silence opposition voices. That’s the First Amendment down the drain.
People "in Obama’s employ” have been allowed to gloat over the power they wield. They know they can silence any group with whom the administration disagrees without fear of punishment.
One of them, IRS agent Sherry Wan was recorded on March 12, 2012, speaking to a pro-life organization.
"You have to know your boundaries,” she told Ania Joseph president of the Pro-Life Revolution, this IRS agent processing papers. "…It appears that some of your activities, conducted or plan to conduct, may be neither educational nor charitable in nature no matter how sincere of your religious belief or how important of your viewpoint.”
This is an IRS agent processing papers, who was allowed to say this, ungrammatically I might add, to a U.S. citizen who pays her salary.
And she got away with it. Just like the "rogue” agents targeting conservative groups, short-circuiting the fundraising ability of these groups coincidentally before the 2012 election and silencing their message.
Sherry Wan got away with it. Just like Eric Holder. Just like Lois Lerner. Just like Hillary Clinton. Just like Susan Rice.
Yet, despite the threat to our civil rights, there are those who have no problem handing over their rights to the government and are feeling superior to the rest of us saps because of their selflessness.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is one of them.
"I’m a Verizon customer,” Sen. Graham said. "I don’t mind Verizon turning over records to the government if the government is going to make sure that they try to match up a known terrorist phone with somebody in the United States.”
The key word is "if.”
What Sen. Graham does not mention is the government already has a track record for these surveillance methods against terrorists.
While the government monitors and stores the phone records of millions of "innocent” Americans to thwart terrorism, Obama and his Homeland Security, his FBI, CIA and NSA could not track nor thwart the Boston Bombers.
Even when Russia called us to tell us about Tamerlan Tsamaev.
Even after his name was included on two U.S. terror-watch databases in 2011.
Even after he and his family were on welfare in Massachusetts, after he and his brother had government subsidized educations, used cell phones and even after Tsanaev travelled unchecked to and from Russia.
We watched him go, Homeland Secretary Napolitano said, but then lost track of him on his way back. I think she said his name was spelled wrong.
What Sen. Graham does not mention how it was that Obama’s Homeland Security, FBI, CIA and NSA managed to miss the 21 e-mails sent by Army Maj. Nidal Hasan to terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki while Hasan served as a soldier in the U.S. Army.
He does not mention how it was that even though Hasan’s military records were reviewed by government agencies, he was given a clean bill of health. Despite the warning signs reported by his colleagues and superiors, despite them, somehow the "Fort Hood” shooter who killed 13 and wounded 32 slipped through the cracks.
So much for broad spectrum surveillance.
So tell me again why it is that our records are being collected and stored by the government without our knowledge so as to track terrorists.
Maybe this invasion of our privacy could be the reason Congress has a six percent approval rating. It could also be the reason why 70 percent of Americans want investigations into Obama’s scandals.
But probably not, and besides opinion polls are not enough. More is needed from us because too much is at stake.
So how much liberty can you afford to give away? And what will you do when you discover it’s all gone and there’s no way to get it back?
There comes a time to say "No more” when it comes to your liberty. We did it with England. The odds were stacked against us and we put up with it for a while. We gave and gave and the king took. It was clear the balance was all wrong and there came a time when it was clear that it could not continue.
King George III didn’t care about the rights of the colonists. They were his "subjects,” to do with whatever he saw fit. And he saw the colonies as a cash cow. That’s what the Boston Tea Party was all about.
The only real difference between then and now is that then the colonists saw the situation as it was. It was common sense.
It is not any less clear today. In fact it’s the same situation. It’s why everything happening today seems so familiar. We’ve seen it before when "we the people” were under the thumb of the King of England.
We saw being penalized with burdensome taxes was unjust.
We pushed back against British soldiers being quartered in our homes.
We stood up and said "no” to being targeted as our homes were searched by British soldiers at the will of the Crown, without a warrant.
We held fast to our muskets when the king tried to take them, knowing that having them was a hedge against the aggressions of any man.
We came to these shores to have the right to worship in the religion of our choice, the right to speak freely, even about unpopular issues, without fear of reprisal from the Crown.
It was about liberty, and brave Americans in colonial America stood firm and took back their power. They said "no more” and created a government and a country and a Constitution that was unparalleled in the world in the liberties it provided to its citizens.
They started by making a list of rights. They vowed never to give up these rights and swore never again to be governed by a despot. They knew how dangerous it was to allow a monarch to continue unbridled by any laws, and they vowed never to have that happen again. Not in this country.
Wouldn’t we be fools to willingly give up these rights? We never have, until now, but little by little we are allowing our unalienable rights to slip away without a fight.
Why are we doing that? Are we fools? Have we enjoyed our rights for so long without sincere reflection that we think these rights will continue without protecting them? Are we deliberately denying the fact that there are people who want to take these rights away?
Given the administration we have, with the level of duplicity and incompetence that it has displayed, given the inferior moral quality of the people in this administration, how much of the Bill of Rights are you willing to give away to them?
Do you trust them to "not read your e-mails,” "not listen to your phone calls?”
Do you trust a Lisa Jackson, an Eric Holder, a Hillary Clinton, a Barack Obama not to use information gathered secretly about citizens suspected of no crimes? These are people who twist the law to suit whatever corner they have backed themselves into.
So do you trust them to "do the right thing” for your welfare and the good of the country? The truth is that Obama wants to take away every one of the amendments in the Bill of Rights. Then he wants the whole Constitution to go away.
Haven’t you been paying attention? Haven’t you been aware of the scandals, the endless Congressional hearings where his minions are questioned but no answers are forthcoming?
Haven’t you been paying attention? Haven’t you been aware of this emotionally unavailable president who never addresses the tough problems, who refuses to answer questions about those problems, but who is more than willing to take credit for the take-down of Osama bin Laden, complete with photos?
He shamelessly uses every tragedy to campaign for gun control. That’s the Second Amendment down the drain. He ignores the fact that none these tragedies could have been prevented since they were committed by mentally ill people. But he says, "Trust me. Hand over your guns.”
Can you trust him?
His government spies on its citizens secretly and he says "Trust me. Don’t be selfish. It’s for the national security.” That’s the Fourth Amendment down the drain.
He constructively "quarters soldiers” in your houses without your consent, without a warrant, by monitoring your e-mails and phone calls and tells you it is necessary for the good of the country. That’s the Third Amendment down the drain.
He uses the agencies of his government to bully, target and silence opposition voices. That’s the First Amendment down the drain.
People "in Obama’s employ” have been allowed to gloat over the power they wield. They know they can silence any group with whom the administration disagrees without fear of punishment.
One of them, IRS agent Sherry Wan was recorded on March 12, 2012, speaking to a pro-life organization.
"You have to know your boundaries,” she told Ania Joseph president of the Pro-Life Revolution, this IRS agent processing papers. "…It appears that some of your activities, conducted or plan to conduct, may be neither educational nor charitable in nature no matter how sincere of your religious belief or how important of your viewpoint.”
This is an IRS agent processing papers, who was allowed to say this, ungrammatically I might add, to a U.S. citizen who pays her salary.
And she got away with it. Just like the "rogue” agents targeting conservative groups, short-circuiting the fundraising ability of these groups coincidentally before the 2012 election and silencing their message.
Sherry Wan got away with it. Just like Eric Holder. Just like Lois Lerner. Just like Hillary Clinton. Just like Susan Rice.
Yet, despite the threat to our civil rights, there are those who have no problem handing over their rights to the government and are feeling superior to the rest of us saps because of their selflessness.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is one of them.
"I’m a Verizon customer,” Sen. Graham said. "I don’t mind Verizon turning over records to the government if the government is going to make sure that they try to match up a known terrorist phone with somebody in the United States.”
The key word is "if.”
What Sen. Graham does not mention is the government already has a track record for these surveillance methods against terrorists.
While the government monitors and stores the phone records of millions of "innocent” Americans to thwart terrorism, Obama and his Homeland Security, his FBI, CIA and NSA could not track nor thwart the Boston Bombers.
Even when Russia called us to tell us about Tamerlan Tsamaev.
Even after his name was included on two U.S. terror-watch databases in 2011.
Even after he and his family were on welfare in Massachusetts, after he and his brother had government subsidized educations, used cell phones and even after Tsanaev travelled unchecked to and from Russia.
We watched him go, Homeland Secretary Napolitano said, but then lost track of him on his way back. I think she said his name was spelled wrong.
What Sen. Graham does not mention how it was that Obama’s Homeland Security, FBI, CIA and NSA managed to miss the 21 e-mails sent by Army Maj. Nidal Hasan to terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki while Hasan served as a soldier in the U.S. Army.
He does not mention how it was that even though Hasan’s military records were reviewed by government agencies, he was given a clean bill of health. Despite the warning signs reported by his colleagues and superiors, despite them, somehow the "Fort Hood” shooter who killed 13 and wounded 32 slipped through the cracks.
So much for broad spectrum surveillance.
So tell me again why it is that our records are being collected and stored by the government without our knowledge so as to track terrorists.
Maybe this invasion of our privacy could be the reason Congress has a six percent approval rating. It could also be the reason why 70 percent of Americans want investigations into Obama’s scandals.
But probably not, and besides opinion polls are not enough. More is needed from us because too much is at stake.
So here’s a thought: Maybe it’s time for Americans to give a damn.
Hold the line, America. And Happy 238th Birthday to our U.S. Army. God bless you all for your service.