Do you feel your personal freedoms are being slowly stripped away? Does this mean the terrorists are winning?

Answer 1

Well, yes and no, I suppose. Like others, and being a regular ol' middle American white guy, I don't have anyone snooping on me and taking away some of my privacy rights directly. However, you really have to be concerned about the efforts being made to increase police powers. You have to remember that a power given is not easily taken back, in fact, rarely is. Right now the powers are being used to chase down terrorists like this last batch of human excrement planning the plane bombings, so it's well and good, but what happens when that threat wanes? And it will, make no mistake. We're in a phase in history that will last for a time, maybe decades, maybe a century, of maybe just a few years. Then the next phase comes, another threat, something within, maybe the Freemen wackos or whatever, and these powers are in place, and if they've been used on citizens to counteract one threat, why should any other threat, or even the idea that there could be one forming, be any different? The word is erosion, and we should be up in arms about it. This is probably one of the main reasons I, as a Republican for all my adulthood, voted against my party for the first time two years ago.

Republicans should be fighting for smaller, less intrusive government, not the other way around.

Does this mean the terrorists are winning? No, I don't think so. I think the question really is whether we're going further than we need to in order to secure a lasting victory over the nutjobs, and I'd say we are. It's important that we view our liberty as something to be grasped with all our might and not released little by little, like the frog in the proverbial cooking pot. We can't give up what we fight for in the process of fighting for it. We have to be willing to be somewhat at risk and work harder to find ways to combat the Islamo-fascists without giving up that which is most dear.

As a side note, I don't feel anyone is having their personal freedoms stripped away at the airport. Every person has to cooperate to keep flying safe. Once you board that plane, everyone else's safety is your responsibility too, and vice versa. There you should just deal with it and be glad the bomber isn't in the seat next to you today.

Answer 2

Absolutly not. See how many loud mouths, gays or the ACLU would survive under Sharia law. I'd feel a heck of a lot less free if I were forced to wear the Shador or the Burka. Until then the terrorists have not won!

Answer 3

Throughout U.S. history Americans have always had less personal freedom during war time. Lincoln suspended habius corpus on suspected Confederate spys, holding them in jail without due process. During WWI, the Espionage Act of 1917 made it illegal to even speak negativly about the U.S. war effort. And of course think of the civil rights violations in Korematsu v. U.S., when Japanese-Americans were sent to detention camps during WW2.

Despite these violations the Constitution is still effect today. The terroritsts will never win.

Answer 4

If the terrorists win we will have no freedom at all. Sometimes we must sacrifice some freedom for our own protection. If airport security had been tighter on 9/11, we might still have the WTC. It's a delecate balance.

Answer 5

i feel that individual freedoms are being stripped away. i have not felt any personal freedoms stripped away, my life is much as it was.

i don't think it is even related to terrorism. the things i notice are laws like smoking bans that criminalize the act of lighting a cigarette, but not the selling of something we are being told is toxic. there seems to be a subtle shift toward sacrificing freedom for the free market; you have the freedom to sell alcohol, but not to carry an open container in your car. you have the freedom to speak, but most regular folks need a corporate podium in order to disseminate their views, which means now that i am relying on yahoo to help me use that freedom to talk to you.

that is one reason i am attentive to net neutrality... i learn so much on the internet. i don't want to go back to waiting for crumbs from publishers: i like being able to turn on my computer and go into the world's largest library. is that something that other people value?

Answer 6

First question: Yes
Second question: Yes
Additional comment: And those who give a penny about it, those supossedly waging or supporting the war against terrorism are just as happy as the terrorist at seeing the foundations of civility being eroded.

Answer 7

First question, yes. Second question, its not the fault of the terrorist but the government who is stripping away our rights. Terrorism is just an excuse.

Answer 8

I think Thomas Jefferson would roll over in his grave if he saw what the politicians have done to our freedoms. So in a sense yes they are winning.

Answer 9

If you think your freedoms have been curtailed now just imagine what will happen to them if the Islamic fascists come to power.

Woe to you if you're a woman or a homosexual.

Answer 10

Absolutely. They're goal is to disrupt our way of life, trample our Constitutional, and cause us to live in fear.

And they are getting exactly what they want, with the help of our own government who is playing right along.

Why kill what you can terrorize. If you were a terrorist, would you rather have a thousand people dead, or a hundred million living under a tyranny. The terrorists are getting exactly what they want, every time our government throws away another piece of our Constitution.

In honor of Pastor Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the 6th Amendment, but I hadn't been accused of a crime, so I didn't object to denial of counsel.

Then they came for the 4th Amendment, but I wasn't talking to anyone overseas, so they wouldn't be monitoring me.

Then they came for the rest of the 4th Amendment, but I only called my mother, so there was nothing suspicious in my phone records.

Then they came for the 1st Amendment, but I never associated with criminals, so I didn't worry about being convicted purely based on what other people might do.

Then they came for the 14th Amendment, but I never really understood the rules for Due Process (and wasn't allowed an attorney), so I didn't object.

Then they came for the rest of the 1st Amendment, but I never told anyone about what the government was doing, so again I remained silent.

Then they came for the 5th Amendment, ...... and I no longer had the right to remain silent.