Enemies of Freedom
Don J. Cormier
We have met the enemy, and he is us.
— Walt Kelly, 1972
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All
around the world, the United States poses as the champion of freedom.
"Freedom" is a thing which the citizens of the United States have been
taught to love, and this love translates into a willingness to fight or
die when the United States government declares that freedom is threatened
by tyranny. However, in the last few years, the United States government
has taken away many freedoms from people living within it's borders.
Surprisingly, most Americans have willingly cooperated with these "take
aways". What is the explanation for this compliance?
There
are four basic reasons.
First,
"freedom" is a buzzword for many people. The government schools teach
that freedom is important, but they don't clearly teach what it is.
Many people believe that some mysterious thing called "freedom" is good,
but since they can't quite define it, they don't notice when they are losing
it.
Second,
to the extent that they understand freedom, most people consider it a secondary
or tertiary value, well behind survival and comfort. When the government
declares that internal or external security demands sacrificing freedom,
this seems like a reasonable assertion to people with this mentality.
Third,
many people consider freedom to be a means rather than an end. They
see freedom as a tool to achieve happiness, not as something valuable in
itself. If a loss of freedom does not effect their happiness, they
never notice the loss.
Fourth,
many people want freedom for themselves, but don't want to allow others
to be free, because they don't trust others. If the government declares
that certain people with criminal tendencies need to be repressed, or that
certain people need to be controlled for their own good, these assertions
seem perfectly credible and rational to these people. They fail to
realize that tolerating tyranny for others eventually kills all freedom.
It
can be seen, in summary, that confusion, cowardice, and contentment are
the great enemies of freedom. Since these attributes are common in
modern America, freedom is eroding.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
News
Court: No Right to Assisted Suicide
WASHINGTON
(AP) - The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that terminally ill people
do not have a constitutional right to doctor- assisted suicide. The
court upheld laws in New York and Washington state that make it a crime
for doctors to give life-ending drugs to mentally competent but terminally
ill patients who no longer want to live. Lower courts had overturned
the statutes.
— AP NewsBrief by MARCO LEAVITT, Tuesday, July 1, 1997
British Handguns Surrender Begins
LONDON
(AP) - British handgun owners face a three-month deadline to surrender
their weapons, after which ownership of all but the smallest caliber weapons
will be illegal. Under a new ban, owners have until the end of September
to turn in their handguns at police stations. After that, anyone
caught with a handgun larger than a .22-caliber faces up to 10 years in
prison. Police around the country have hired extra staff to help
organize the surrender of the 160,000 handguns presently legally owned
by licensed gun club members.
— AP NewsBrief by MARCO LEAVITT, Tuesday, July 1, 1997
Sex Criminals May Be Kept Locked Up
WASHINGTON
(AP) - States can keep certain violent sexual predators locked up after
they serve their sentences even if they are not mentally ill. The
Supreme Court, ruling 5-4 in the case of an admitted pedophile from Kansas,
said such convicts can be held over if they are considered mentally abnormal
and likely to commit new crimes. The court said this confinement
to protect society does not violate the right to due process and it is
not double punishment for the same crime.
— AP NewsBrief by MARCO LEAVITT, Tuesday, June 24, 1997
NATO-Led Troops Seize Serbs
SARAJEVO,
Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) - NATO forces targeted Bosnian Serb war crimes
suspects in a raid today, killing a former police chief wanted on genocide
charges and seizing three other suspects. British troops captured
the men in the northwestern town of Prijedor. One British soldier
was shot in the leg, but not seriously injured. U.S. soldiers did
not directly participate in the raid.
— AP NewsBrief by PETE BRUSH, Thursday, July 10, 1997
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Frontiersman
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August 1997
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