In yet another sign that the WOT is a mere campaign slogan (although the most effective since WWII), WaPo reports that the budget for the TSA has been slashed.
TSA Defunded and Dissected
Remember when we were told that our government needed to collect retina scans and other biometric data in order to protect us, and that we Americans needed to register and have good credit reports in order to fly? Well, read the article and learn how our government has taken a page from Brother Orwell.
Only now, we have a twist. Although the intial impetus for the savaging of our private information and liberty was government-led, now private companies will be sifting through your private data. Screening and many other aspects of airport security are set to be outsourced.
Of course, this is what led to security lapses in the first place.
My thoughts on what the American public's willingness to sacrifice liberty because of its fear of dying in a plane crash means for Dems follows on the flip side.
This is the classic bait-and-switch. The American people give up their liberty and privacy in return for purported security, and all they end up with in less liberty, privacy and security.
It's the reason we have an ACLU. And, People for the American Way.
Unfortunately, those organizations were unable to stop the initial infringement on liberty and privacy, and now with the bait-and-switch, will be hard-pressed to win back our lost rights.
Which brings me to the point of this diary. Several months ago, I had an email exchange with the New York bureau chief of a large, well-respected national paper. He had responded to my email LTE in which I decried the police state that D.C. had become, and compared the D.C. approach unfavorably to that chosen by New York. (His original article discussed New Yorkers' response to "fear".)
Without relating the boring details of our email exchange here, the gist of his point was that the United States had been attacked and that "fear" was warranted. I found this astonishing, and shocking. If a journalist had bought into the culture/politics/society of fear, I figured we Dems were toast come November.
I think most Kossacks would agree this fear had something to do with the result last November.
In any event, we Dems might want to consider attacking this "fear." I believe showing the hypocrisy of this Administration can be done more effectively, and this is a critical mission if we are to succeed.
Surely Benjamin Franklin understood what was at stake, and was right (to paraphrase): "Those who are willing to trade liberty for security deserve neither." Old Ben lived in a far less secure society and yet could stake it all for our country. We must ask all Americans to do the same.