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America: A Sissified Nation
WND ^ | 8-14-02 | Walter Williams

Posted on 08/13/2002 11:44:40 PM PDT by rambo316

Benjamin Franklin warned, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." But that's what the Bush administration and Congress have asked of Americans – to give up essential liberty for safety that's not even guaranteed.

By not being fully appreciative of the fact that it's Washington, not Osama bin Laden, that represents the greatest threat to both liberty and security, we've gone along with the agenda. Let's look at it.

Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the communist government of East Germany had an extensive network of informers and spies who reported to the Stasi, the secret police. The Stasi was a carryover from Heinrich Himmler's feared secret police, the Gestapo.

You say, "Williams, are you suggesting that there are Americans who want our government to create a network of informants and spies?" That's precisely what President Bush called for – hundreds of millions of dollars to devise innovative ways to spy on Americans. He called his agenda the Terrorism Information Program, where electric utility, telephone repairmen and others having access to our homes and offices would report "suspicious" activities. Had former President Clinton made the same proposal, conservatives would have greeted it with open outrage – but since it's Bush, shoulder-shrugging indifference carried the day.

Americans have bought into the most massive government growth since the LBJ days and the attack on our liberties out of the mistaken belief that there's a tradeoff between liberty and security. We're willing to permit government to take away our ability to move about freely, take away our personal privacy, and number and process us – all in the name of security against terrorist attacks.

No matter how much of our liberty Washington takes away in the name of security, there are no guarantees that there won't be another terrorist attack. Instead of attacking American liberties, the government ought to go after terrorists in their countries of origin. It should be like what our military attempted during World War II. Don't wait to defend ships against the kamikaze – bomb the fields where they take off.

We know the countries who sponsor, support and harbor terrorists. They are Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea and a few others. The president should put these countries on credible notice that should United States suffer a terrorist attack and our intelligence discovers that, say, Saudi Arabia financed, assisted or harbored the terrorists, there would be a massive military retaliation that would not exclude nuclear weapons.

You say, "Would our European allies or the United Nations support such an action?" I say ignore our European allies and the United Nations. Their vision of foreign policy is talk and appeasement of tyrants, a vision that allowed Adolph Hitler to nearly conquer Europe. If Ronald Reagan had listened to our European allies and the U.N., instead of the evil empire collapsing, Europe might be a U.S.S.R. satellite by now.

You say, "Williams, you sound like a warmonger!" No, I'm not. But neither am I willing to wait until a chemical or bacteriological attack kills millions of Americans or a "dirty bomb" makes one of our cities uninhabitable for 100 years before there's an effective response to nations who harbor terrorists.

I detest the initiation of force, but if I see someone building a cannon aimed at my house, I'm not going to wait for him to fire it. I would eliminate him and anyone else in his house before he gets a chance to fire it. But then again, I'm not a member of America's sissified generation.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: liberty
Williams hits it right on the head. It has been said many times before, but we, as a nation, have to rid this country of political correctness because it is at the root of all our problems. If Bush is a "True Grit" man, it is time to take the gloves off and start unleashing on these Commies on the left. Bush ought to take a few lessons from Rumsfeld in dealing with these Panzies or "Candy asses" that have infiltrated his young presidency.

If Bush does not start drawing a distinction between himself and the commies that dominate the left, we are finished as a people.

1 posted on 08/13/2002 11:44:41 PM PDT by rambo316
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To: rambo316
If Bush does not start drawing a distinction between himself and the commies that dominate the left, we are finished as a people.

Sorry to say this, but Bush is a nice guy. He's a decent president, but he's no revolutionary.

Even though he's not taking the fight to the left often enough, he still has my vote.

2 posted on 08/13/2002 11:53:12 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: rambo316
We know the countries who sponsor, support and harbor terrorists. They are Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea and a few others. The president should put these countries on credible notice that should United States suffer a terrorist attack and our intelligence discovers that, say, Saudi Arabia financed, assisted or harbored the terrorists, there would be a massive military retaliation that would not exclude nuclear weapons.

We already have suffered a major terrorist attack and we already know that Iraq and Saudi Arabia had a hand in it. Using Walter's logic, we should be responding with nukes right now, not "the next time it happens." .....and I would agree with him .

3 posted on 08/13/2002 11:56:58 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: Jack-A-Roe
You got that right, Jack. We should annihilate them all for what they did. Bush and some of his people continue to appease these cockaroaches when he should be stomping them out. Meanwhile, in America, these terrorists are allowed to flourish. All but a small fraction of them are anti American but because of PC we are not dealing with them as we should. I say, while this so called war is going on, we should set up internment camps, so the enemy within will be isolated.
4 posted on 08/14/2002 12:39:02 AM PDT by rambo316
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To: rambo316
There are those who suggest Bush is lying in wait for the right moment to attack. He waited three months to respond with force; directing it not at the one state that is financing the world wide challenge to the dominant Western culture - Saudi Arabia. Instead he slams the as hole of the world, Afghanistan. A red herring in my book. Will he make the Saudi family pay for their support of a world-wide Christian bloodbath? Will he merely toss us a two-bit narcissist from Baghdad, in a attempt to hold back the anger of America's Citizens? Based on previous experience, the White House has a single item menu. Herring.
5 posted on 08/14/2002 1:29:47 AM PDT by Robert Drobot
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To: rambo316
"....He waited three months to respond with force [to the infamous act of 11 September 2001]"
6 posted on 08/14/2002 1:32:43 AM PDT by Robert Drobot
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To: rambo316
Franklin did not have to deal with the ememy we have today.
7 posted on 08/14/2002 5:30:36 AM PDT by alisasny
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To: alisasny
Franklin did not have to deal with the ememy we have today.

The enemy Franklin had to deal with was the most powerful nation (Britain) on earth at the time. He and the Founders prevailed without surrendering their Freedom in the process.

8 posted on 08/14/2002 5:36:03 AM PDT by Mulder
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To: alisasny
A good warning to these nations who support or finance terrorists: It is your government and your police department role to make sure no venomous hate teaching, and tolerance of militant Islamic organizations. You have six months to purge your society from such groups, then if the US found that your country still harboring such activities, we will drop nuclear bombs on your cities.

All these governments and these leaders will think twice about allowing a cleric to preach hate in his Friday sermon.

9 posted on 08/14/2002 5:46:35 AM PDT by philosofy123
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To: alisasny
What a silly argument. Yeah, the Founding fathers only had to deal with Britian, the lone Superpower of the time.
10 posted on 08/14/2002 5:54:55 AM PDT by ContemptofCourt
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To: MinorityRepublican
"Sorry to say this, but Bush is a nice guy..."

Who cares his intentions, if he is setting up the big government programs that President Hillary will use to destroy our freedoms entirely?
11 posted on 08/14/2002 9:58:34 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed
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