Freerepublic is influential due to the great number of posters and lurkers the site attracts. I am concerned that censorship and banning of excellent contributors will eventually result in reduced readership.
I'd remind all who read this that it was one of histories most notorious socialist tyrants, Adolph Hitler, who correctly declared
"What great luck for rulers that people do not think." </font size=5>
Yes, 9-11-01 was a terrible event and we must find and punish those responsible. And, sadly, there WILL be others.
But we must not punish ourselves and those who come after us by killing the idea that was America and for which idea so many have already paid the ultimate price. Should THAT happen, America the PLACE will no longer be worth saving. What’s to save?
There is now serious talk about the NATIONAL ID CARD some in government have lusted after for decades. IF government at the state level had NOT been so free and easy with, for example, DRIVER’S LICENSES and a number of other “official” documents (which we now know several of the murderers secured from Florida), it’s possible their miserable lives might have been complicated and their plot foiled.
But here’s the more fascinating question: WHY THE HELL WERE SOME OF THESE GUYS EVEN IN THIS COUNTRY? Much to the FBI’s and CIA’s consternation, it’s now coming out that a number of them had long histories of suspicion of complicity in OTHER terror attacks.
It is common knowledge that the INS (ask any of the guys in the field!) had its hands tied in rounding up and deporting hispanics ON ORDERS FROM ON HIGH to “go easy.” I wonder how much of THAT attitude slopped over to ALL aliens, legal and illegal.
And isn’t it interesting that we have heard nothing lately about AMNESTY for illegals?
If the tragic events of 9-11 prompt a long overdue review of our entire immigration policy, the 7,000+ may not have died in vain.
Now the same government that so miserably failed in its prime Constitutional duty to protect America from all enemies, both foreign and domestic by allowing 7,000 of them to be slaughtered like helpless cattle – after we have ALREADY handed over huge chunks of our freedoms – may now be poised to seize the remainder. That that seizure is with the acquiescence of a majority of the citizens here DOES NOT make it acceptable. That is why America was INTENDED to be a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC and NOT the DEMOCRACY the Founding Fathers abhorred.
The strong, self-reliant men who created this place understood the danger of trading freedom for “security.”
"Gentlemen may cry, 'peace, peace'--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! Is life so precious, or peace so dear, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" -- Patrick Henry to the Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania Assembly, Nov. 11, 1755
Let me conclude by reminding you that the Nazi concentration camps and Soviet gulags were some of the most secure places on the planet -- for all BUT the inmates.
Is THAT what YOU want for YOUR kids and grand-kids?
Let's work the problem, people -- starting with thinking it all the way through.
Fact: We got into WWI when German torpedo sunk Lusitania which was carrying munitions to Britain along with 1200 passengers. Germans took out ads in American newspapers warning us not to board this ship. Brits allowed these Americans to be sacrificed to get us in the war.
Result: More government control and one world League of Nations.
Fact: We got into WWII when we embargoed Japan's oil imports(act of war) and left our fleet as sitting ducks for the Japs to attack in Pearl Harbor. Common knowledge that FDR wanted us in the war and was willing to sacrifice these sailors for his Socialist New World order.
Result: the United Nations and half of the world turned over to commies in Europe and Asia.
My shallow thinking American friends need to rethink knee jerk reactions to government propaganda ie. Hugh Hewitt and his Neo Conservative cadre
Let's use it!