Its the time of year once again for counting blessings, and I am reminded that, living in the greatest country on the Earth, faults and all, I have so many blessings to count again this year.
I am blessed that I am truly free, that I can choose to go where I wish, be what I want within my means, to say what I wish to say about just about anything I want. I must look around me, and count the number of my worldly brethren that cannot enjoy these most basic of blessings.
I am blessed in that I can vote to choose my leaders, even if my choice may be overshadowed by the interests of Big Money or Big Corporations that will always have more resources than the public, and will always have more influence in swaying the public's opinion on an issue or a leader; I am blessed that they must always influence ME, and not ignore me as a non-being. I am the focus of their money and efforts, because I have the vote that they covet.
I am blessed that I can choose to not travel by airplane if I am offended by my country's misguided efforts to combat terrorism. I am also blessed in that I am free to pursue efforts to eliminate those offensive and mostly ineffective screening methods for domestic flights by choosing not to fly, hoping that the industry itself will eventually effect a change with the TSA for more reasonable methods.
I am blessed to be able to, and proud to, pay my taxes, in order to support my government and the programs enacted by the Congress elected by the people of the United States, the state of Florida, and my local community. At the same time, I am fortunate to live in a country where I am free to point out fraud and mishandling of tax money without fear of imprisonment or harm to my person.
I am blessed to belong to a middle class, where I earn enough money to own a small dwelling, a nice car, and some nice belongings, in a community safe from fear of crime. I am fortunate to have a good job that is, for the moment, safe from layoff or elimination, and is fulfilling emotionally and challenging mentally.
I am blessed to live in a country where the government is stable and safe from being overturned by enemies foreign or domestic, or safe from collapse from within, no matter what pundits or political rivals my cry from time to time; they have been doing so for two hundred and twenty years.
I am blessed to live in a place where my years of military service is celebrated, even while knowing that it is not the veteran that guarantees our freedom, it is the Constitution that guarantees our freedom.
I am blessed to be able to say the Pledge of Allegiance with my class each morning, and I am blessed to be free to take exception to the "Under God" clause, and still mean the rest of the Pledge without reservation.
I am blessed to be free to follow the religion of my choice, or no religion at all, or several religions at the same time. I am free enough in this country, and my privacy cherished enough by my fellow countrymen, that few people, if anyone, knows my true religious affiliation.
And finally, I am blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving with my family, to see my brother again who I do not see nearly enough, and to spend time with my mother, and to see and smell the land and breathe the air in Tennessee, which I miss more than I care to say.
Happy Holiday Season.
- Crow
Friday, November 19, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Airport Sercurity
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
With the current bruhaha about airport security, I am reminded that the whole ball of wax began with an act of terrorism, which became the focus of a nation filled with hatred and fear. Ten years later, the fear remains, a fear so great that a proud, free people will bend and submit to a degrading scheme of personal violation, loss of privacy of their effects, and disposal of the rights of due process of law that the fore-fathers of that people had fought and died to obtain and maintain for the people over the last two hundred and thirty years.
Groups or individuals engage in terrorism to change the behavior of a larger group or institution. By using terror, a smaller, less well armed contingent can effect this change in an efficient, less expensive manner than can be done with a larger, more heavily armed force. The terrorist uses fear as his weapon; actual casualties are minimal. The promise of future *possible* casualties is the real weapon. There may never be another one, there may be a few. The nature of the terrorists environment, there can never be a large number of casualties; the terrorists just don't have the resources.
The casualty count in this, the Forever War, is minuscule compared to any major war we have fought in our history, yet our politicians still bang the drum, beating the people into a religious froth to ensure the terrorists' weapon is still sharp: Fear. Instead of letting our laws and our law enforcement handle a problem of criminal conduct, our leaders have made it one of military conflict where our military is ill suited to do battle. How do you combat the real enemy, Fear, with tanks and guns?
Instead we lay upon the altar of sacrifice our Liberties. Never before have I had to carry proof within my own country of the place of my birth. Never before have I had to allow another person, unknown to me, to rummage through my personal belongings, and to touch me when I did not want to be touched. And worse, I have no choice but to submit to this; I don't even have the option to turn around and leave, I have to submit or be detained without a warrant or due process. I have to submit to this, or stop traveling in my own country, not just overseas, but in my own community.
I hope this nightmare is temporary, and that in the years to come, historians will look back on these times as one of those dangerous periods when Americans almost let their freedoms go, but then, somehow, managed to get them back again. But my own Fear is that this time, they have gone for good. When I watch the officials at work, I see for the first time in my life the workings of an Internal Police, answerable to no one but the Secretary of their order. I do not see how Liberty can stand.
Crow.
With the current bruhaha about airport security, I am reminded that the whole ball of wax began with an act of terrorism, which became the focus of a nation filled with hatred and fear. Ten years later, the fear remains, a fear so great that a proud, free people will bend and submit to a degrading scheme of personal violation, loss of privacy of their effects, and disposal of the rights of due process of law that the fore-fathers of that people had fought and died to obtain and maintain for the people over the last two hundred and thirty years.
Groups or individuals engage in terrorism to change the behavior of a larger group or institution. By using terror, a smaller, less well armed contingent can effect this change in an efficient, less expensive manner than can be done with a larger, more heavily armed force. The terrorist uses fear as his weapon; actual casualties are minimal. The promise of future *possible* casualties is the real weapon. There may never be another one, there may be a few. The nature of the terrorists environment, there can never be a large number of casualties; the terrorists just don't have the resources.
The casualty count in this, the Forever War, is minuscule compared to any major war we have fought in our history, yet our politicians still bang the drum, beating the people into a religious froth to ensure the terrorists' weapon is still sharp: Fear. Instead of letting our laws and our law enforcement handle a problem of criminal conduct, our leaders have made it one of military conflict where our military is ill suited to do battle. How do you combat the real enemy, Fear, with tanks and guns?
Instead we lay upon the altar of sacrifice our Liberties. Never before have I had to carry proof within my own country of the place of my birth. Never before have I had to allow another person, unknown to me, to rummage through my personal belongings, and to touch me when I did not want to be touched. And worse, I have no choice but to submit to this; I don't even have the option to turn around and leave, I have to submit or be detained without a warrant or due process. I have to submit to this, or stop traveling in my own country, not just overseas, but in my own community.
I hope this nightmare is temporary, and that in the years to come, historians will look back on these times as one of those dangerous periods when Americans almost let their freedoms go, but then, somehow, managed to get them back again. But my own Fear is that this time, they have gone for good. When I watch the officials at work, I see for the first time in my life the workings of an Internal Police, answerable to no one but the Secretary of their order. I do not see how Liberty can stand.
Crow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)