Dear sheltonmac:
Well, for starters, how about the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." There will be no life in America without strong security. Insane? It's called truth.
"Get professional help, you need it...an oppressive gov't is NOT a reasonable solution to your perception of a problem."
Dear justlurking:
I appreciate your response so people can see how a libertarian behaves when faced with reality they can't accept. You depict yourself very well as a jerk.
The Daniel Pearl is not fantasy, its not an illusion. There is a powerful force, militant Islam and their followers, that is within our boarders. Ever hear of sleeper cells? You can pretend, you can wish they didn't exist, however, that won't make them go away. The Daniel Pearl tape, as you obviously were not aware, is a motivation to these cells. It is played often and revered in the militant Muslim world. It's what they want to do to you and me.
Even though you don't care about your life or security, you are wrong to insult those who do care and work for security of America.
Yep, and the Constitution explicitly provides for domestic security:
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
I really wish you could step back and see how you are ranting and screaming (virtually) at people who (with varying amounts of patience) are trying to point out the problems with your position.
The reality is that the government ultimately cannot protect you from harm. That's your responsibility. When you rely on others to do it for you, what are you going to do when they either cannot or will not do so?
The Daniel Pearl is not fantasy, its not an illusion. There is a powerful force, militant Islam and their followers, that is within our boarders. Ever hear of sleeper cells? You can pretend, you can wish they didn't exist, however, that won't make them go away. The Daniel Pearl tape, as you obviously were not aware, is a motivation to these cells. It is played often and revered in the militant Muslim world. It's what they want to do to you and me.
Unless you are wandering around in the parts of the world controlled by the militant Muslims (as Pearl was), you are in no significant danger from them. Believing otherwise is irrational fear and paranoia.
Yes, I'm sure there are militant Muslims in this country. But, they are very constrained in what they can do, because everyone is vigilant and individuals still have the means to stop them in most parts of the country. Setting aside government incompetence, it's very unlikely they will succeed again in anything more than a minimal attack. And even then, the chance of any specific individual being directly affected is very small -- something close to winning the lottery. You expose yourself to far more danger every time you get in your car/truck/SUV and drive to the grocery store.
Even though you don't care about your life or security, you are wrong to insult those who do care and work for security of America.
I do care about my life and security, which is exactly the reason why I oppose oppressive government measures that only pretend to address those issues. Governments have a historical habit of using such measures for more insidious purposes that undermine my life and security.
But, if you think I'm trying to insult you, you misunderstand. I'm encouraging you to seek help. I'm not saying that you "need" it, despite your misquote of my previous posting (you left out the "if")... only you can decide that. But, I do think it would be very helpful if you stepped back and took a deep breath and honestly asked yourself why you believe that danger is lurking around every corner. It's not, and never has been unless you live in a handful of urban slums.
The whole purpose of terrorism is to make people fearful and stop them from doing the things they enjoy. The extremist Muslims hate our form of western democracy because they envy our freedom. It's only a pretense that we do things they don't like -- they know very well that it's the freedom that enables us to do so. By insisting that our government limit our freedom, you are handing the terrorists their victory.