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The Ten Greatest Threats to Freedom
ecologic on line ^ | Jan 1, 03 | Alan Caruba

Posted on 01/01/2003 6:52:35 AM PST by o_zarkman44

2003: The Ten Greatest Threats to Freedom By Alan Caruba

The new Millennium, the new century, the new year, holds as many threats to civilization and to our nation as any that have preceded it. Here is a list of the threats I perceive as the greatest challenges to the freedoms Americans have come to cherish and perhaps even take for granted.

1. The Islamic Jihad. This global war, fought through terrorist attacks, threatens the United States and the entire world. It includes a genocidal policy toward the world's Jews and seeks to impose Islam on Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and all other faiths. It reflects an interpretation of Islam that requires conquest and authorizes violence in pursuit of its goals.

2. The Failure to Protect U.S. Borders. Beyond the threat of terrorists seeking entry to the United States, the failure to restrict illegal immigration is undermining the capacity of the nation to absorb the largest flow of legal and illegal immigrants since the 1850s. The financial pressures on our educational, health care, and criminal justice systems can no longer be ignored. The view that new Americans should neither adopt English as our common language, nor the values set forth in our historic documents is dangerous.

3. The United Nations. This institution is the single greatest threat to the sovereignty of all nations whose right it is to govern in the interest of their citizens. It has declared its intent to be global government and, as such, poses a threat to democracy and freedom worldwide. Through its matrix of treaties, protocols, and conventions, it has sought to impose its agenda, undermining member nation's rights to determine the use of their own land, resources, and social policies.

4. Environmentalism. This movement is devoted to attacking the nation's economy and defense community. A legion of lawsuits has undermined the logging, mining, ranching, farming and fishing industries, to name just a few. Its "wilderness" agenda is the cause of repeated catastrophic forest fires. Its "urban sprawl" agenda seeks to force the population into cities, depriving people of the ability to live where they wish. Its attacks on the beneficial use of pesticides to protect mankind and the obstacles placed on the development of genetically modified food crops only serve to insure needless famine and death from diseases in undeveloped nations and elsewhere throughout the world.

5. Education. The nation's education system has demonstrably failed to provide young people with adequate, basic skills in reading, writing, arithmetic, and has subverted or eliminated the teaching of history, civics, geography and science. America's students consistently fail to meet the standards of those educated in other nations. Local control of education must be returned to communities from the command and control that exists in the U.S. Department of Education and the teacher's unions that control it.

6. The Attack on Property Rights. Capitalism is based on the right to own and use property. There are approximately 2.3 billion acres of land in the U.S. More than 40% is owned by government entities. Less than 5% of the entire landmass represents cities, suburbs and other forms of development. Government programs utilizing taxpayer money to purchase private property, eliminating its productive use, erodes the nation's economic base. This right is so fundamental the Founding Fathers protected it in the Constitution. Congress must reverse this trend.

7. Curtailing the Power of NGOs. At present, Non-Governmental Organizations are free of serious examination of their funding and activities. There is little transparency required of their operations and they are often protected against any legal action. Always proclaiming noble objectives, the NGOs operate behind a veil of secrecy, often working to achieve policies harmful to entire industries and to the maintenance of a democratic republic. The time is long since overdue for regulation of NGOs to require public accountability.

8. Tort Reform. The growing use of lawsuits to threaten legal industries with financial ruin is seen in the billions of dollars extorted from the tobacco industry and the attacks being formulated against the fast-food industry. The virtual blackmail of corporations held responsible for the individual lifestyle choices and actions of litigants threatens to undermine confidence in the nation's legal system. This distortion of the U.S. legal system permits the transfer of wealth to lawyers and to the States, while penalizing the investors, employees, and consumers of the industries under attack.

9. The War on Drugs. While the use of illegal drugs is clearly a significant social problem, the universal opinion of those who have been engaged in, or are observers of our "war on drugs" has deemed it a failure. A new policy is required, and legalization, comparable to the consumption of alcoholic beverages, should be considered.

10. Curtailing the Spread of Socialism. The transfer of the nomenclature of socialism to "environmentalism" has served to hide the way this political and economic system has been able to maintain the deception that wealth must be redistributed from those that have earned it to those that have not. Socialism remains widespread, endemic to Great Britain and all of Europe, as well as many African and Asian nations. The free market system of Capitalism must be aggressively pursued, along with its inherent emphasis on individual freedom.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; US: Missouri
KEYWORDS: borders; caruba; environment; jihad; property; un
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Too many people are off in their own narrow minded little world to realize the huge multiple challenges that confront us as Americans. It is time to step up our challenges. Waiting for our government to change, no matter which party is in control, is a fatal mistake. We the people still have a voice and a presence. Be loud!
1 posted on 01/01/2003 6:52:35 AM PST by o_zarkman44
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To: o_zarkman44
11. USA Patriot Act

The civil liberties of ordinary Americans have taken a tremendous blow with this law, especially the right to privacy in our online communications and activities.

Yet there is no evidence that our previous civil liberties posed a barrier to the effective tracking or prosecution of terrorists.

In fact, in asking for these broad new powers, the government made no showing that the previous powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to spy on US citizens were insufficient to allow them to investigate and prosecute acts of terrorism.

2 posted on 01/01/2003 6:57:10 AM PST by ActionNewsBill
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To: o_zarkman44
The number one threat is and has only ever been: Ever-increasing government power.
3 posted on 01/01/2003 6:57:19 AM PST by Maelstrom
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To: o_zarkman44
9. The War on Drugs. While the use of illegal drugs is clearly a significant social problem, the universal opinion of those who have been engaged in, or are observers of our "war on drugs" has deemed it a failure. A new policy is required, and legalization, comparable to the consumption of alcoholic beverages, should be considered.

I agree....the War on Drugs is a War on Citizens.

4 posted on 01/01/2003 6:59:02 AM PST by ActionNewsBill
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To: ActionNewsBill
12.HOLLYWOOD
5 posted on 01/01/2003 7:10:06 AM PST by longfellow
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To: o_zarkman44
#1 The Assault on the Second Amendment.

leave my Second Amendment rights alone and I'll have plenty of help in dealing with the other challenges

6 posted on 01/01/2003 7:13:14 AM PST by muir_redwoods
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To: o_zarkman44
Number three should be the US Senate. (Ruined by direct election, 97% corrupt.)
7 posted on 01/01/2003 7:17:10 AM PST by bvw
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To: muir_redwoods
I agree, the 2nd Amendment is integral to defending freedom in the overall picture.
8 posted on 01/01/2003 7:29:58 AM PST by o_zarkman44
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To: o_zarkman44
Ditto.
9 posted on 01/01/2003 7:44:52 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: o_zarkman44
2nd Amendment bump.
10 posted on 01/01/2003 7:45:29 AM PST by ActionNewsBill
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To: ActionNewsBill
Patriot Act should be #3, war on drugs #4 and attack on property rights #5.
11 posted on 01/01/2003 7:46:37 AM PST by Founding Father
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To: muir_redwoods
Without the 2nd Amendment, this list would be nothing more than fill for the government complaint department trash bin.

Just the very existence of free people with guns, regardless of whether or not they will organize and rise up against government, keeps the government within limits.

12 posted on 01/01/2003 8:17:48 AM PST by Bob Mc
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To: o_zarkman44
Much of this could be subsumed in an "envelope" danger: the shredding of government's Constitutional constraints. For how much of what Mr. Caruba condemns would have occurred had the citizenry enforced the Constitution, particularly the enumerated powers of Congress, on the federal government?

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason:
http://www.palaceofreason.com

13 posted on 01/01/2003 8:18:03 AM PST by fporretto
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To: o_zarkman44
13. Hillary Clinton.
14 posted on 01/01/2003 8:21:56 AM PST by Spiritus Gladius
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To: longfellow
.


13. The Democrat Party
........Their belief that Rights are not conferred to Man by God.
........Their belief that the Bill of Rights adds power to the Government.
........Their Hatred of Firearms, and sympathy for criminals.
........Their hatred of America and everything it stands for; real or imagined.
........Their professed belief in Racism, and their ongoing denials to the contrary.
........Their belief that our country is a Democracy and not a Republic.
........Their belief that our nation was founded on "equality for all" rather than "Freedom and Liberty" for all.
........Their control of the media.
........Their control of the monetary supply.
........Their control of Hollywood.
........Their disreguard for any idea different than theirs.
........Their combined belief in a world government ruled by liberal elite through the UN.



.
15 posted on 01/01/2003 8:32:24 AM PST by vannrox
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To: o_zarkman44
11 - The Republican Party, The Democratic Party, and in general... big government.
16 posted on 01/01/2003 8:34:00 AM PST by TightSqueeze
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To: o_zarkman44
#11 Populace Apathy
17 posted on 01/01/2003 8:38:43 AM PST by antaresequity
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To: o_zarkman44
1. The failure of US courts to respect the 2nd amendment. If we lose this one, it's over.

2. The failure of US courts to respect the 4th amendment. War on drugs, Patriot Act, loss of private property rights.

3. The failure of US courts to properly interpret the limitations on federal government (Commerce Clause, 9th and 10th amendments.) Rampant federal government, environmental abuses, regulatory hobbling of the economy, federal education mandates, etc. etc.

4. The federal income tax. The means for the government to invade the privacy of every citizen. This is the key element of the Big Brother society we are in/entering, which will provide the tools for tyranny.

5. Social Security. Poised to poison our economy even more than it already does.

6. The Failure to Protect U.S. Borders and enforce immigration laws.

7. The Failure to protect the legality of voter rolls.

8. Weapons of Mass Destruction in the hands of those who do not respect the principles of liberty.

(Note that most of these things affect only the US, but since we are the best hope for and the last bastion of world freedom, when we preserve ours, we preserve the world's hopes. Also note that most of these things are a matter of following existing law, not changing anyone's mind about socialism, environmentalism, drugs, etc. Further note that "terrorism" is missing, since a few guys blowing up buildings will not deny our freedom, unless our government decides to deny our freedom in response.)
18 posted on 01/01/2003 8:45:03 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed
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To: o_zarkman44
9. The War on Drugs. While the use of illegal drugs is clearly a significant social problem, the universal opinion of those who have been engaged in, or are observers of our "war on drugs" has deemed it a failure. A new policy is required, and legalization, comparable to the consumption of alcoholic beverages, should be considered.

Big, end-the-WOD BUMP!!

19 posted on 01/01/2003 9:10:03 AM PST by bassmaner
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To: o_zarkman44
read later
20 posted on 01/01/2003 10:31:42 AM PST by LiteKeeper
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