Land of the Free, Home of the Brave by Dale Tozier
Since January 2000, roughly 65,000 Americans have died as a result of firearm homicides. We are Americans, proud of our unparalleled freedoms and as brave as can be. We fervently defend our supposed 2nd Amendment right to own firearms. We have decided as a nation that 14,000 homicides per year is a reasonable price to pay to preserve this right which many believe is laid out in the Constituion.
Since January 2000, approximately 190,000 Americans have died on our highways. Roughly 80,000 of those deaths involved drunk driving. We maintain our perspective on the cost of freedom, so we don't take this transgression very seriously. We have a president who was arrested for DUI after crashing his car while drunk. We have a vice president with two DUI convictions. We have a congress and Senate loaded with members who have DUI convictions. Americans value our freedoms, and we are loathe to seriously crack down on this behavior by imposing long prison sentences, heavy fines, and license revocations. We are willing to pay the price at the rate of about 18,000 deaths per year rather than end our freedom to have a few drinks before getting behind the wheel of a car.
We, as Americans, obviously value our individual freedoms and rights above all. Not even 32,000 deaths per year caused by firearm homicides and drunk driving are enough to make us freedom-loving Americans give up our inalienable rights. We recognize that "freedom isn't free", as the saying goes. We will willingly pay any price to preserve what it means to live free.
Well, ALMOST any price.
Since January 2000, approximately 3,000 Americans have lost their lives in terrorist attacks here. As a result, American citizens have been rounded up and carted off to an offshore prison where they can be held incommunicado indefinitely, without any charges ever being filed. The public has no right to even know who is being held, how many are being held, or why they are being held. These prisoners have no right to counsel, a hearing, trials, visitors, or communication with family or friends. By numerous reports, some have been subjected to torture. The government is not obligated to tell anyone anything about these prisoners and refuses to do so. We are just to trust that our government takes such actions only with great wisdom and restraint.
The congress also rushed through the Patriot Act. Among other things, the government now has the right to monitor which books and magazines we are reading at our local library or buying at bookstores. The government assures us that it really isn't using this broad right of surveillance, but we cannot verify this claim because it is a felony under the act for any library or bookstore employee to tell anyone if any records have been requested by the government. The government also has a secret court it can go to to request secret permission for wiretaps and other surveillance of citizens. The public does not even have the right to know the extent to which this court is being used.
So, I guess we now know which rights we value most: The rights to own a personal arsenal and have a few drinks before driving? … those rights we hold to be inviolate. The rights to due process of law or to read what we choose without being placed on a secret government surveillance list? ... those rights we can do without. As Americans, we know which of our freedoms have real value.
We now also know the price which Americans regard as too high to pay ... the price for which we are willing to scrap the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution:
65,000 firearm homicides since 2000 is a small price to pay to preserve our right to bear arms.
80,000 deaths caused by drunk driving since 2000 is a small price to pay to preserve our freedom to choose to have a few drinks and get behind the wheel of our cars.
But, 3000 deaths caused by terrorists? Well, that is just too much carnage ... time to trash the Constitution and admit that there is a price too high to pay for our freedoms. In a world where our President tells us that we have enemies who hate us for our freedoms, we just can't afford so many freedoms anymore.
As unbending Americans, we'll be damned if we'll ever let terrorists take our freedom from us! We'll just quietly surrender it to our own secret government. Sure makes me proud to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. How about you?
Dale Tozier
Since January 2000, approximately 190,000 Americans have died on our highways. Roughly 80,000 of those deaths involved drunk driving. We maintain our perspective on the cost of freedom, so we don't take this transgression very seriously. We have a president who was arrested for DUI after crashing his car while drunk. We have a vice president with two DUI convictions. We have a congress and Senate loaded with members who have DUI convictions. Americans value our freedoms, and we are loathe to seriously crack down on this behavior by imposing long prison sentences, heavy fines, and license revocations. We are willing to pay the price at the rate of about 18,000 deaths per year rather than end our freedom to have a few drinks before getting behind the wheel of a car.
We, as Americans, obviously value our individual freedoms and rights above all. Not even 32,000 deaths per year caused by firearm homicides and drunk driving are enough to make us freedom-loving Americans give up our inalienable rights. We recognize that "freedom isn't free", as the saying goes. We will willingly pay any price to preserve what it means to live free.
Well, ALMOST any price.
Since January 2000, approximately 3,000 Americans have lost their lives in terrorist attacks here. As a result, American citizens have been rounded up and carted off to an offshore prison where they can be held incommunicado indefinitely, without any charges ever being filed. The public has no right to even know who is being held, how many are being held, or why they are being held. These prisoners have no right to counsel, a hearing, trials, visitors, or communication with family or friends. By numerous reports, some have been subjected to torture. The government is not obligated to tell anyone anything about these prisoners and refuses to do so. We are just to trust that our government takes such actions only with great wisdom and restraint.
The congress also rushed through the Patriot Act. Among other things, the government now has the right to monitor which books and magazines we are reading at our local library or buying at bookstores. The government assures us that it really isn't using this broad right of surveillance, but we cannot verify this claim because it is a felony under the act for any library or bookstore employee to tell anyone if any records have been requested by the government. The government also has a secret court it can go to to request secret permission for wiretaps and other surveillance of citizens. The public does not even have the right to know the extent to which this court is being used.
So, I guess we now know which rights we value most: The rights to own a personal arsenal and have a few drinks before driving? … those rights we hold to be inviolate. The rights to due process of law or to read what we choose without being placed on a secret government surveillance list? ... those rights we can do without. As Americans, we know which of our freedoms have real value.
We now also know the price which Americans regard as too high to pay ... the price for which we are willing to scrap the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution:
65,000 firearm homicides since 2000 is a small price to pay to preserve our right to bear arms.
80,000 deaths caused by drunk driving since 2000 is a small price to pay to preserve our freedom to choose to have a few drinks and get behind the wheel of our cars.
But, 3000 deaths caused by terrorists? Well, that is just too much carnage ... time to trash the Constitution and admit that there is a price too high to pay for our freedoms. In a world where our President tells us that we have enemies who hate us for our freedoms, we just can't afford so many freedoms anymore.
As unbending Americans, we'll be damned if we'll ever let terrorists take our freedom from us! We'll just quietly surrender it to our own secret government. Sure makes me proud to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. How about you?
Dale Tozier
posted by Satya | 4:51 PM
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