Do republicans not understand this quote, "Those who would give freedom for security, deserve neither."?

Question

Do republicans not understand this quote, "Those who would give freedom for security, deserve neither." - Thomas Jefferson ?
By supporting the Patriot Act, you support the slippery slope to the removal of your rights.

To all you who say, "it only effects would be terrorists", who decides whos a terrorist?? Thats what the patriot act allows the government to do. You cant say, "that person is a terrorist" if you havnt already had surveillance on him/her when you didnt know they were a terrorist. I know this paradox can be hard to grasp for some people.

Just in support of LL's answer. If you dont believe what LL said, here is the actual link: www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm

www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm

Ok, just search yahoo for, USA Today 5/11/06

Answer 1

Very few of the answerers to this question even know what the Patriot Act is and what sub-laws it has engendered under the name of "Total"...Oops I mean "Terrorist Information Security".

The data-mining which the government currently does is not limited to overseas calls. In case you didn't read the USA Today article of May 11, 2006, the three major telephone networks in America recently had an employee leak information that there are rooms at AT&T and/or BellSouth where the gov. routinely monitors regular American citizens' calls. One person described the info. gleaned as "the largest database ever assembled in the world".* The data contains billions of phone calls. Qwest was the only phone company that declined to assist in the data-mining.*

In addition, library records of any American are now subject to government perusal. If you don't understand the ramifications here, then you don't understand what freedom is, and as Jefferson said, don't deserve it either.

Yes, as one answer above said, "The Patriot Act is now law." All but two of the law's provisions are now permanent, having been voted so by the US Congress in March 2006. Federal agents can now sieze any American's personal records and communications, without so much as a search warrant, since they have been declared un-necessary by the recent legislation. Unless you have taken time to research this 2002 law and all its ramifications then instead of giving an answer lightheartedly you really take time to study the Patriot Act.

Thousands of people across the US are extremely concerned about the ramifications for privacy and liberty that this entails.

Do your own research. You will realize that this is no longer a "Land of Liberty". No matter how complex a society becomes, once the people give up their freedoms, they are gone. What remains is an illusion of liberty.

Answer 2

That is extremely moronic, you must be a Democrat! Democrats are creating all these crazy little laws limiting our every move and I'm not just talking security here. However, if your question is a matter of security, move somewhere else where you do not enjoy the United States Protection and see how safe you feel. Maybe we can let one of those terrorist that we missed pay you a visit.

Is some of it going too far? I don't like this phone legislation as it exists, but I do believe we have averted many more tragedies as a result of some security measures that were not in place before.

Answer 3

This may be a catchy slogan, but would you consider the coined phrase, "Those who give security for freedom don't care about civilzation?" (I just made that one up). Living in a complex civilization is always a challenge to the juggling of liberties and security measures. To paint an extreme picture, who will enjoy the freedom to bear arms when everybody does so and uses them at will? Would that be a civilization you would enjoy being part of, or just trigger-happy pandemonium? I'm not an American, you see, so I can see this from a detached perspective. I've lived in most countries, including the US, and it did strike me as peculiar that some nations, which, by US standards, would seem to be restrictive in their legislation, provide far better opportunity for their citizens to actually enjoy community life because so many dangerous things are outlawed, and therefore barely happen. To give you an example, I really was glad, when I lived in the UK, that not everybody was allowed to carry a gun, because there was so much drinking and burglarizing going on that I would have hated knowing these guys to be armed on top of all that. Or in Sweden, where 0-tolerance rules toward drink driving, your chances of making it home in one piece both as a driver and a pedestrian are so much better than, say, in Italy, where you will have to be unbelievably drunk to be pulled out of traffic. Does this seem to make some sense?

Answer 4

Its ironic that the party that sports the slogan Get The Government Off Our Backs likes to regulate womens bodies, adults sex lives and reading habits, to spy on peoples bank records and telephone conversations, and to hold people without trial or charges being filed or granting bail--all prohibited by the former Constitution. It was a great idea, and by flushing the Constitution down the toilet the GOP has opened the door to super state totalitarian abuses because there simply is no legal protection for the individual any more. They will understand their mistake in time, but by then it will be too late.

Answer 5

It's more ironic that they apparently do not understand this one:

"A house divided against itself cannot stand", by Abraham Lincoln (and taken from the Bible).

In taking up as their political strategy the turning of American against American they have seriously weakened the United States to a point that there is now a reasonable risk of the nation not surviving, just as Lincoln said. Either the Republicans are somehow unaware of the danger to the nation of their political strategy, or they care more about holding power than they do about the survival of the United States. Neither possibility reflects well on the Republican Party.

Answer 6

Seems like if this Act was passed in the Senate by a vote of 98 to 1 and in the House by 357 to 66, it's more than just Republicans that don't understand that quote.

Answer 7

The Patriot Act takes away a few of your rights if you are a terrorist.
Unless you are a terrorist or calling terrorists overseas, you have nothing to worry about.

Don't be a terrorist and the Patriot Act will not bother you at all. But it may save some of your family from being killed.

Answer 8

Do you not understand.... there is no slippery slope ... it has already been signed into law.!.
The ? is are YOU ready to go in the streets with your gun and fight the militia state that exists to have the law reversed. You can spout 200 year old quotes all you want, it won't change a thing. Do YOU understand that.

Answer 9

When Thomas Jefferson wrote that, they did not have terrorist like we have today. We have to make some modifications to our laws to combat the cowardly murderous ba$tards.I however don't see any difference in my lifestyle. What I see is that you want to tie the hands of law officials, I hope you are the one next to the next explosion and not some innocent people.

Answer 10

Dude best quote along with "Sticking a knife in a man's back 9 inches and pulling it back 3 can not be considered progess" -Malcolm X, and everything from Thomas Paine's writing.