Surely it affects all Americans, and all foreigners in America at any given time? Just because it hasn't impacted you does not mean it doesnt affect you. The war in Iraq hasn't impacted me in the slightest... it still affects me.The seatbelt law actually affects me. The Patriot Act does not in any way, shape or form. Is that so hard to understand?
I never said anything about Bush...? Its not Bush I would be worried about in relation to the Patriot Act or civil liberties. He's a jolly ould Texan with a distinctly "defined" view of the world, something of the sort that I personally would view as perhaps a little simplistic, but he certainly is not a bad man. More than anything else he is a puppet figurehead for much more sinister forces. If you question and oppose a seat belt safety law on the grounds that it could potentially be part of a broader movement that could lead to an Orwellian, big-brother state (as I believe you pointed out in the other thread). Then surely THIS is something to take note of for its massive potential for undoing core values. For someone who repeditively praises the merrits of small government, this seems remarkably inconsistant...? Could this be partisanism? Im not saying it is, but objectively evaluate your own position and at least allow yourself the oppertunity...You can try as hard as you like to trash Bush by claiming this is harming our rights as citizens, but until it does, youre only fulfilling your own fantasies about Bush.
But isnt that the dark beauty of totalitarianism, it is something that is permissably on the grounds of security (or whatever happens to be the flavour of the month... ) until it is impossible to stop, because any emerging totalitarian worth his weight in rice will first target the very things that can remove him. Im not saying that the Patriot Act IS designed as a direct plot to turn America into a fascist dictatorship, (...but then again, I'm not saying it isntWhen this law affects me, anyone I know, or even anyone ive ever heard of, then Ill treat it like the seatbelt law.) but was the "Rule by Decree" Article (Article 48) of the Weimar Constitution really designed to enable Hitler's rise? It was seen as a vital in ensuring that Germany could survive in the face of dangers, (and lets face it, the domestic issues that Weimar had to deal with, the shaking to the very core it received on an almost annual basis, I would say dwarf the dangers faced by the US from terrorism today). Yet it turned out to be one of the (if not, THE) biggest factors in Hitler's rise. These checks on Government control may not be removed by those that will abuse their absence, but once gone you have no protection from those that would. Once it begins to impact the majority of the population, its allready far too late. And one thing is clear as day, a liberty gone is a liberty gone. Once you wave goodbye to a civil liberty, your not likely to see it again.
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