Originally posted by /^Blackmagik^\
please elaborate on how you've lost freedom? has your life in particular changed in any way other than you talk about the same thing over and over on a web forum? have you or any of your friends been adversely affected by increased security at an airport?
i am well aware of that quote... i am also well aware that ben franklin lived in a time of conventional warfare. we, on the other hand do not. times change. you as a liberal should know that as well as any since the general liberal mindset pushes change, needed or not.
Just for the sake of argument, an example:
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/N...443041,00.html
Gore: Repeal Patriot Act
10/11/2003 08:16 - (SA)
Washington - Former United States vice president Al Gore accused President George W Bush of failing to make America safer after the September 11 attacks and using the war against terrorism as a pretext to consolidate power.
"They have taken us much farther down the road toward an intrusive, 'big brother'-style government - toward the dangers prophesied by George Orwell in his book '1984' - than anyone ever thought would be possible in the United States of America," Gore charged Sunday.
Gore, who lost the disputed 2000 presidential election to Bush, said terrorism-fighting tools granted after September 11 amount to a partisan power grab that have led to the erosion of the civil liberties of all Americans.
He brought the crowd to its feet when he called for a repeal of the Patriot Act, which expanded government's surveillance and detention power, allowing authorities to monitor books people read and conduct secret searches.
Gore chided the administration for what he said was its "implicit assumption" that Americans must give up traditional freedoms in order to be safe from terrorists.
It makes no sense
"In my opinion, it makes no more sense to launch an assault on our civil liberties as the best way to get at terrorists than it did to launch an invasion of Iraq as the best way to get at Osama bin Laden," Gore said.
In both cases, Gore said, the administration has "recklessly put our country in grave and unnecessary danger".
He also said the administration still has "no serious strategy" for domestic security - charging that there aren't sufficient protections in place for ports, nuclear facilities, chemical plants and other key infrastructure.
His speech before a crowd of about three thousand people was sponsored by the liberal activist group Moveon.org, which earlier this year held an online presidential primary in which Howard Dean finished first.
A second sponsor, the American Constitution Society, is a national organisation of law students, professors, lawyers and others that says it seek to counter what it characterises as the dominant, narrow conservative vision of American law today.
and FYI, yes, I've been harassed enough by Emperor Bush's Gustapo SS Homeland Security. **** them, and **** him. Have a nice day.