CivilLiberty
Active Member
An email I received this morning by Ron Paul, Republican Congressman from Texas:
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It Can't Happen Here
Ron Paul --- December 20, 2004
In 2002 I asked my House colleagues a rhetorical
question with regard to the onslaught of government
growth in the post-September 11 th era: Is America
becoming a police state?
The question is no longer rhetorical. We are not yet
living in a total police state, but it is fast approaching.
The seeds of future tyranny have been sown, and many
of our basic protections against government have been
undermined. The atmosphere since 2001 has permitted
Congress to create whole new departments and
agencies that purport to make us safer - always at the
expense of our liberty. But security and liberty go hand-
in-hand. Members of Congress, like too many
Americans, donít understand that a society with no
constraints on its government cannot be secure. History
proves that societies crumble when their governments
become more powerful than the people and private
institutions.
Unfortunately, the new intelligence bill passed by
Congress two weeks ago moves us closer to an
encroaching police state by imposing the precursor to a
full-fledged national ID card. Within two years, every
American will need a ìconformingî ID to deal with any
federal agency -- including TSA at the airport.
Undoubtedly many Americans and members of Congress
donít believe America is becoming a police state, which
is reasonable enough. They associate the phrase with
highly visible symbols of authoritarianism like military
patrols, martial law, and summary executions. But we
ought to be concerned that we have laid the foundation
for tyranny by making the public more docile, more
accustomed to government bullying, and more accepting
of arbitrary authority - all in the name of security. Our
love for liberty above all has been so diminished that we
tolerate intrusions into our privacy that would have been
abhorred just a few years ago. We tolerate
inconveniences and infringements upon our liberties in a
manner that reflects poorly on our great national
character of rugged individualism. American history, at
least in part, is a history of people who donít like being
told what to do. Yet we are increasingly empowering
the federal government and its agents to run our lives.
Terror, fear, and crises like 9-11 are used to achieve
complacency and obedience, especially when citizens
are deluded into believing they are still a free people.
The loss of liberty, we are assured, will be minimal,
short-lived, and necessary. Many citizens believe that
once the war on terror is over, restrictions on their
liberties will be reversed. But this war is undeclared and
open-ended, with no precise enemy and no expressly
stated final goal. Terrorism will never be eradicated
completely; does this mean future presidents will assert
extraordinary war powers indefinitely?
Washington DC provides a vivid illustration of what our
future might look like. Visitors to Capitol Hill encounter
police barricades, metal detectors, paramilitary officers
carrying fully automatic rifles, police dogs, ID checks,
and vehicle stops. The people are totally disarmed; only
the police and criminals have guns. Surveillance
cameras are everywhere, monitoring street activity,
subway travel, parks, and federal buildings. There's not
much evidence of an open society in Washington, DC,
yet most folks do not complain-- anything goes if it's for
government-provided safety and security.
After all, proponents argue, the government is doing all
this to catch the bad guys. If you donít have anything
to hide, they ask, what are you so afraid of? The
answer is that I'm afraid of losing the last vestiges of
privacy that a free society should hold dear. I'm afraid
of creating a society where the burden is on citizens to
prove their innocence, rather than on government to
prove wrongdoing. Most of all, Iím afraid of living in a
society where a subservient populace surrenders its
liberties to an all-powerful government.
It may be true that average Americans do not feel
intimidated by the encroachment of the police state.
Americans remain tolerant of what they see as mere
nuisances because they have been deluded into
believing total government supervision is necessary and
helpful, and because they still enjoy a high level of
material comfort. That tolerance may wane, however,
as our standard of living falls due to spiraling debt,
endless deficit spending at home and abroad, a
declining fiat dollar, inflation, higher interest rates, and
failing entitlement programs. At that point attitudes
toward omnipotent government may change, but the
trend toward authoritarianism will be difficult to reverse.
Those who believe a police state can't happen here are
poor students of history. Every government, democratic
or not, is capable of tyranny. We must understand this
if we hope to remain a free people.
-------
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It Can't Happen Here
Ron Paul --- December 20, 2004
In 2002 I asked my House colleagues a rhetorical
question with regard to the onslaught of government
growth in the post-September 11 th era: Is America
becoming a police state?
The question is no longer rhetorical. We are not yet
living in a total police state, but it is fast approaching.
The seeds of future tyranny have been sown, and many
of our basic protections against government have been
undermined. The atmosphere since 2001 has permitted
Congress to create whole new departments and
agencies that purport to make us safer - always at the
expense of our liberty. But security and liberty go hand-
in-hand. Members of Congress, like too many
Americans, donít understand that a society with no
constraints on its government cannot be secure. History
proves that societies crumble when their governments
become more powerful than the people and private
institutions.
Unfortunately, the new intelligence bill passed by
Congress two weeks ago moves us closer to an
encroaching police state by imposing the precursor to a
full-fledged national ID card. Within two years, every
American will need a ìconformingî ID to deal with any
federal agency -- including TSA at the airport.
Undoubtedly many Americans and members of Congress
donít believe America is becoming a police state, which
is reasonable enough. They associate the phrase with
highly visible symbols of authoritarianism like military
patrols, martial law, and summary executions. But we
ought to be concerned that we have laid the foundation
for tyranny by making the public more docile, more
accustomed to government bullying, and more accepting
of arbitrary authority - all in the name of security. Our
love for liberty above all has been so diminished that we
tolerate intrusions into our privacy that would have been
abhorred just a few years ago. We tolerate
inconveniences and infringements upon our liberties in a
manner that reflects poorly on our great national
character of rugged individualism. American history, at
least in part, is a history of people who donít like being
told what to do. Yet we are increasingly empowering
the federal government and its agents to run our lives.
Terror, fear, and crises like 9-11 are used to achieve
complacency and obedience, especially when citizens
are deluded into believing they are still a free people.
The loss of liberty, we are assured, will be minimal,
short-lived, and necessary. Many citizens believe that
once the war on terror is over, restrictions on their
liberties will be reversed. But this war is undeclared and
open-ended, with no precise enemy and no expressly
stated final goal. Terrorism will never be eradicated
completely; does this mean future presidents will assert
extraordinary war powers indefinitely?
Washington DC provides a vivid illustration of what our
future might look like. Visitors to Capitol Hill encounter
police barricades, metal detectors, paramilitary officers
carrying fully automatic rifles, police dogs, ID checks,
and vehicle stops. The people are totally disarmed; only
the police and criminals have guns. Surveillance
cameras are everywhere, monitoring street activity,
subway travel, parks, and federal buildings. There's not
much evidence of an open society in Washington, DC,
yet most folks do not complain-- anything goes if it's for
government-provided safety and security.
After all, proponents argue, the government is doing all
this to catch the bad guys. If you donít have anything
to hide, they ask, what are you so afraid of? The
answer is that I'm afraid of losing the last vestiges of
privacy that a free society should hold dear. I'm afraid
of creating a society where the burden is on citizens to
prove their innocence, rather than on government to
prove wrongdoing. Most of all, Iím afraid of living in a
society where a subservient populace surrenders its
liberties to an all-powerful government.
It may be true that average Americans do not feel
intimidated by the encroachment of the police state.
Americans remain tolerant of what they see as mere
nuisances because they have been deluded into
believing total government supervision is necessary and
helpful, and because they still enjoy a high level of
material comfort. That tolerance may wane, however,
as our standard of living falls due to spiraling debt,
endless deficit spending at home and abroad, a
declining fiat dollar, inflation, higher interest rates, and
failing entitlement programs. At that point attitudes
toward omnipotent government may change, but the
trend toward authoritarianism will be difficult to reverse.
Those who believe a police state can't happen here are
poor students of history. Every government, democratic
or not, is capable of tyranny. We must understand this
if we hope to remain a free people.
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