Can you name ONE freedom that you've lost?

Question

Name one.

Not make things up, like "Bush is monitoring my phonecalls from my grandmother," which unless you grandmother is calling from a radical imam's mosque in Syria is utter BS.

Not "Patriot Act" - what about the Patriot Act - the fact that you have to show an ID when you open a checking account?

Not "they can see what I looked up on the library's comuter" - - right, the LIBRARY'S computer. Not yours. Just like your boss has the right to see that you're answering this question, since it's your employer's computer, the government has the right to see what IT'S computers are being used for, and when they weren't doing this, smart criminals used the library computer so the "how to make a bomb" site wouldn't show up on their own computer.

And don't tell me that foreign terror suspects have 6th Amendment rights under the Constitution of a country they've never been to.

What rights have YOU lost?

Answer 1

the right to have my head sawed off by terrorists? yeah, i miss that right. a lot.

seriously though, you're going to be bombarded with examples like the ones you've ruled out.

eta: having said that, Bob makes a wonderful point. we're on a slippery slope here. i just disagree on who the parties are that are trying to take our rights. (it ain't Bush, he ain't the one trying to get the Fairness Doctrine back.)

YAZAN, are you seriously blaming Bush for your lost rights? why don't you look a bit closer to home at the fighting between Hamas and Fatah? if that would stop, maybe the average citizen would be able to go about their business. instead of complaining about a president who has nothing to do with you, you should be campaigning to get rid of the terrorist movement within your own country.

Answer 2

I am a conservative and I used to be a Repulbican. I'm not a Democrat. I'm not anything anymore because both parties have now abandoned the idea of less government and more freedom.

I've not yet seen a personal difference from the Patriot Act, because I don't make overseas calls and I don't care who looks at my internet activity. I've not yet seen a personal difference from all of the smoking laws, because I'm not a smoker. I've not yet seen a personal difference from the no-trans-fat law in New York, because I've never been there.

The problem is that all of this is leading up to a "Nanny State," where big brother watches and listens to everything you do, tells you what to eat, what to drink, how to discipline your children, what time to go to bed, and how to dress. Each small step doesn't seem like much, but it has already begun to snowball and shows no sign of stopping. We have to stop now or there will be no turning back.

ADDITION:

In addition to jesito_sascec's answer:

Even if you trust the current administration to just use the Patriot Act to fight terrorism, what about future administrations? As has been pointed out, the Nazis and Socialists were trusted to only use their power for good when it was granted to them.

We no longer live in a Republic. I don't know what form of government we have anymore.

Answer 3

There was a police officer in my town that was recently disciplined for pulling over young women and making them disrobe. Said things like he was looking for a suspect that had a tattoo in a private place. Since you are so willing to give up your 4th amendment rights are you willing to be forced into disrobing at the whim of anyone with a badge? After all, you aren't a terrorist, what do you have to hide? The erosion of our rights is a slippery slope. Once we are ready to give up one of them they'll all start going. How do we know someone is a terrorist? They are not terrorists, until they are convicted. We haven't convicted too many, yet. And we won't if the evidence was obtained illegally. There is a person in Oregon who was detained on illegal grounds. Basically he was profiled because of his Mideast sounding name and his religious beliefs. The government admitted that they made a mistake and he now has a suit against the government. Guess whose going to pay the damages. You're wrong about the Library, too. The libraries are owned by local governments, not the Federal government. In most districts, when we voted to build our libraries we also created a contract to protect our own privacy.

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. "
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

Answer 4

Exactly! But under the Democrats rule they've tried to silence the Conservatives by slipping in is it Act122 or something like that with the Ethic Reform Act which would stop their radio and internet sites from talking about the issues the government is working on and stopping the people from being able to email their representatives and sign petitions. The red tape they would put the programs thru and the violation fines wouldn't be worth the risk of having them. Now in WI Gov. Doyle has a Ethic Reform Bill that has a little glitch in it that makes it illegal to whistle blow to the media! I don't think any of this has gone thru or at least yet but it's on the agenda.

Answer 5

None. And don't say First Amendment people, because you have no idea. If you didn't have First Amendment rights then you wouldn't be able to do what you're doing right now. Yes, the recent National Security acts temporarily limit the First Amendment, like saying you can't yell fire in a movie theater when there's no fire, but have you really lost anything?

And Bush is not personally listening to your phone calls...

Answer 6

After 911 people in this country lost many rights to travel without a whole lot of hassles.

People throw a fit when someone says God Bless you and Merry Christmas when this nation was founded upon the Bible, God and Christianity. People have the right to continue that without being hassled by someone that wants to whine that they don't like it.

I see a loss of people willing to stand up and do the right thing for another.

Everyone is complaining about the Iraq war but no one has come up with a better plan on how to counter attack what was done on 911.

If someone is getting out of their car and a gang comes up and starts a fight, that man getting out of the car facing the gang would rather have President Bush backing him than all the whiners who stand around pointing fingers, complaining and doing nothing.

Answer 7

My rights have not been infringed yet, to my knowledge (not that I would know if my calls were being recorded at a telco switching station) by any laws specifically passed by Bush... but it would be irresponsible of me to watch others have their own rights violated and not say something.

I was going to write you a more complete response, but I'm not going to waste my time. I tried that with you and you don't change. You're not looking for answers... you're too busy peddling partisanship.

Answer 8

The people of the United States have lost NO, I repeat, N-O rights....

There might be some restrictions implemented, but absolutely NO rights have been taken away....

The fact that banks require an ID when opening an account has absolutely NOTHING to do with rights...

Answer 9

Well, for one thing, I am truly afraid to post my true feelings on this site. I am afraid that some gov. official will show up, or perhaps worse is that my account will be suspended here. So, I guess I have lost my freedom of speech. I am no longer free to speak my mind, within reason . And I do believe I am a reasonable person.

Answer 10

I have lost many rights. The most significant lost right of mine is that: I cannot move freely in my country Palestine. A ten-minute long trip takes more that two hours now. Can you imagine?. And I can't visit many places in my country, when I laugh I'm a terrorist, when I resist I'm the lord of terrorism.