The information age affords the citizenry with power far greater than the original intent of the founders. This expansion of the individual must be met with exponential and continuous increases in the power of government over the people. It is only through expansion of powers that the current balance of government and the governed can be maintained. This is the only way to ensure Comparative Liberty for the people.
This is the inevitable argument as I see it. I'm not sure if someone else is making it under another moniker, or if it has already been articulated. If so, someone please link it for me, if not, we have to be ready to counter it. I'm going to supply the argument for Comparative Liberty after the flip. Arthur C. Clark, the great science fiction writer, saw this as inevitable, and it is--if we are not ready for it.
Communicative Power
At no point in human history has mankind faced the communicative power afforded by the information age. This presents great danger our way of life. When before, extremists and dwellers of the fringe were at one time forced to live in the shadows, alone, nearly helpless; they now find aid and comfort in each other.
Disparate hate groups, ineffectual in number before the advent of connectivity, will spread and become legion. They will infect our young people with their seductive and virulent ideals; our young people, who we find slipping further into the unsupervised and growingly dangerous global public square. This responsibility is far beyond what any family can bear alone. It is therefore the responsibility of government to, reluctantly, monitor all communication within and without our borders, for the safety of the individual and that of the family unit. This is the only way to maintain our way of life, and guaranteeing the Comparative Liberty of the people.
Destructive power
At no time has the adage, "knowledge is power", ever been so true. The ability of the lawless to gain destructive and dangerous skills has become limitless. We face the possibility of Oklahoma City-like events ruling our cultural landscape. And, the possibilities of coordinated attacks of this kind are only a point and click away. So, it then falls once again to a government, for and by the people, to monitor commerce of all kinds, and build profiles of the citizenry. The great many peaceful and law abiding citizens of this land have nothing to fear from this, only the monsters within our gates need worry.
By monitoring what is purchased, its quantity, and when, a great many horrors can be avoided. This will make our homeland a safer and more stable place in which to bring up the families that we hold dear. For, if we do not first protect life, we cannot therefore protect liberty, nor the pursuit of happiness.
Transparency
We have seen the ability of the average citizen grow with information age technology to look into the lives of those in government. This ability was once the sole province of an unofficial branch of government, the press or "fourth estate", and they exercised the necessary restraint and responsibility to forward the ideals of democracy. This restraint will not be exercised by those who would do harm to our citizens, the government is simply unable to defend itself from the prying eyes of so many, rendering it unable to function effectively, or without fear of reprisal. This transparency of government can not be avoided, but the same tools must be afforded to the government in order to meet the challenges to come. So a new power of "unobtrusive search" must be afforded to the representative government.
If a man's home is searched, by a device or skilled individual acting upon the will of the people to be safe, and that search does not disturb that man in any way from his daily business. What harm is done? The man will have no idea that he has been searched, has not been deprived of even one second in his day, but the government is afforded the ability to determine that he is not a threat to his fellow citizens, in the very same way that all men can now observe their government, clearly the public good is upheld in this way. Only the lawless need fear.
Necessary Action
The government must use all necessary means in which to curb insurrection and violence, to defend the rights of the populace. There will be some who object to this growth of governmental power, but we must recognize this growth for what it is, a reactionary extension of the power held by people. Every citizen has seen an explosion in their own individual powers, in a government made up of such people surely the government must be able to deal with the citizenry on equal terms.
If government is not afforded the ability to expand it will crumble. It will be within the power of any man, whatever his motive, to bring about instability, chaos. In chaos there is no rule of law, nor the protection of it. The primary function of all government is to prevent chaos, to provide the security that the rule of law affords. This is not a choice we are now faced with, but the reality thrust upon us.
The information age threatens to change our way of life, and if action is not taken tyranny can come from any darkened corner of the nation. The idea of liberty must change, this new, Comparative Liberty, must be defended at all costs.
Well, that's the argument for Comparative Liberty, and everyone here knows and sees it already being acted upon. There are many who believe in this, and our cowardly elected officials push it forward everyday. But, if we name it, we can target it, if we can target it, we can take it down.