Libertarian Party: Color-Coded Terror Alert System is Useless and Should be Scraped

Libertarian Party press release ^ | July 4, 2003 | George Getz

[Commie Basher]

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NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20037
World Wide Web: http://www.LP.org
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For release: July 4, 2003
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For additional information:
George Getz, Communications Director
Phone: (202) 333-0008
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Color-coded terror alert system is useless and should be scrapped, Libertarians say.

WASHINGTON, DC -- The national color-coded terror alert system should be scrapped, Libertarians say, because it only alarms the public with warnings that are too vague to be useful.

"Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge risks becoming like the boy who cried wolf with his frequent, unsubstantiated orange alerts," said George Getz, Libertarian Party communications director. "Soon the public might start ignoring him -- and that could be a real disaster."

As the Fourth of July weekend approached, Department of Homeland Security officials declined to say whether they planned to raise the terror alert level from yellow to orange, the second-highest category. Since the system was instituted last fall, the threat has been raised to orange four times, and no attacks have taken place -- raising questions about the reliability of the underlying intelligence data.

One example: In February, Americans stockpiled food and water and rushed out to buy duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal their homes after the government warned about the risk of a chemical or biological attack.

At the time, Ridge claimed the intelligence reports were based on "multiple sources, obviously credible and corroborated." But days later he quietly canceled the alert after being forced to admit that the reports were "not as accurate as we thought."

An unreliable terror alert system may be worse than none at all -- which is why the program should be dismantled, Libertarians say.

"Telling a nation still reeling from the September 11 terrorist attacks to be on alert for another horrific attack -- without telling them when, where, or how it might occur -- is nothing more than scaremongering," Getz said. "In fact, every orange alert that is issued based on flimsy evidence actually endangers the nation by making Americans more likely to ignore future warnings."

The federal system also forces local police departments to squander tax money on unnecessary security precautions, he added.

"The U.S. Conference of Mayors estimates that cities spent $2.6 billion on additional security costs since the September 11 attacks, much of it related to 'code orange' overtime costs for police and other emergency personnel," Getz said. "These warnings actually made America less safe, because every dollar spent on imaginary threats is a dollar that can't be spent arresting an actual murderer, robber or rapist."

The solution is to replace the gimmicky color-coded system with one based on law enforcement needs rather than political posturing, he said.

"If the federal government obtains a specific, credible threat, it should share it immediately with local law enforcement officials and let them take the appropriate steps to warn and protect the public," he said. "But in the absence of solid information, it should cut the political chatter and refrain from alarming 280 million Americans with a vague, generalized terror alert."

Libertarians believe that preventing another terrorist attack is one of the most important functions of the federal government -- and that's why Americans should insist that it's done right, he said.

"This Fourth of July, let's declare our independence from unnecessary fear by pulling the plug on this counterproductive terror-alert system," he said.

[DAnconia55]

--- I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer, just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals ... The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom, and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is. --- Ronald Reagan

[nopardons]

You are exactly right; however, fanatics and purists refuse to see reality.

[nunya bidness]

We're coming for your pets. Lock your doors.

[nopardons]

And if President Bush had kept everything quiet, had no system made, and never alerted anyone of the possibility of trouble, then you guys would bellyache even more. You can't have it both ways, my dears.

Comics, lefties, and even some on the right can and have made fun of the code. So what ? What does that prove ? NOTHING; that's what.

[nopardons]

Maybe it isn't " hypocritical ". Not all of us worship at the feet of Rush, who has become an exaggerated cartoon of the characture that the left first labeled him as. Rush is now just an ego driven blowhard, who is NOT as knowledgeable, current, nor politically savvy as we once thought he was, long years ago. Personally, I haven't been able to listen to him for years. He lost the fire in his belly, when he married Marta and once Newt stopped feading him stuff, he's been soooooooooooooo far behind FR, as to be laughable.

[nopardons]

Tsk, tsk, tsk

Can't you think up something new, little boy ?

You're so silly, it'd be comic; if it wasn't so utterly pathetic. LOL

[LilithUnfair]

Right. And of course this has to do with Rush worship. Clearly the point is lost. As I expected it to be.

[poet]

"I didn't believe Clinton, and I don't believe Bush. I assume his Orange Alerts are just lies to whip us up into war fever. The govt lies, regardless of who's in charge."

Be careful, the Bush lovers will attack you if you question their hero's socialist programs. I know, they chalk it up to clever politics, but, the fact remains, he's spent almost two trillion of NEW spending on his and his partners ( the democrats) since he's been in office, He's also made an enormous government power grab with "patriot 1" and "homeland (read Fatherland) acts. Bush is to conservatism as prostitution is to virginity.

[ThinkDifferent]

Comics, lefties, and even some on the right can and have made fun of the code. So what ? What does that prove ?

How do you alter your behavior when the color level goes up or down a notch?

[Tall_Texan]

You're for stop signs???

You STATIST!!

:-)

[11B3]

Evidently it's something you all breathe in the air down there, isn't it? Got any solutions, or just more bitching from the land of FUBAR.

[nopardons]

Okay, forget the " worship "; but, Rush isn't always right. Heck, he's often wrong and worse, ill informed, late to the news, and a pompus rambler.

[ThinkDifferent]

Libertarianism is liberal "let's pretend" swung so far around they claim to be on the right of the spectrum.

Um, explain how abolishing the IRS and repealing gun laws are in any way liberal positions. You can disagree with Libertarian policies, as I do on several issues, but statements equating them to liberals are just silly.

[nopardons]

I don't, but those who live and/or work in or near already known hot spots, should and usually have to, due to the increased police or other crack downs on bridges, tunnels, subways, airports, etc.

[jwh_Denver]

*yawn* libertarians once again demonstrate their limited grasp of reality and their futile fixation on dogma over common sense.... *yawn*

Your dislike of the Libertarian Party is blocking your common sense. Those color codes are worthless and totally meaningless as far as the average citizen goes. If the Homeland Defense gets information there is chatter that something may go down in say St. Louis do you think that they would say that? Hell no. St. Louis would be a nut house with people trying to get out of the city. It would probably cause more harm than if a terrorist did blow something up. When the color code goes up do the citizens heighten their awareness. No. And I'm not talking crying wolf too many times. The people that need to know will know.

*yawn* you have demonstrated your limited grasp of reality and your lack of common sense.... *yawn*

[11B3]

When it comes to national defense and integrity of our borders, the LP and the liberals are one and the same. Equating the LP with conservatism is what is silly. Years ago, when they weren't so drug addled, the LP was in fact constitutionally conservative. Now they're nearly comical as a political party, and schizophrenic as an ideology. If they would stick to the original ideas of Liberty as in restricting the government's ability to usurp powers that don't belong to it, they would attract a large number of voters. (Once they put down the bong for a day or two.)

[poet]

I question the integrity and truthfulness of this admin. They have made an icredible grab for power. I suggest you Bush lovers tone down your arrogance because he has lost a lot of Constitutional conservative votes. He is not a shoo-in as you people believe. This admin has the same lying politicians as the last admin only they call themselves republicans and we know, that in reality, they are RINOS.

Three things are certain in life: Death, taxes and betrayal by politicians. Whether you believe it or not, there is only one party in Anerica. The power brokers and powerful families give us our choices. I trust you have noticed
that historically, with very few exceptions, it is the same families who run this country, i,e,; the lodges, the kennedys, the rockefellers, the roosevelts and now the bushes.
They decide whose turn it is to win, an R or D. Samo, samo. The dems would do us on a fast track while the republicrats would do us in piece meal, different approaches, same results.

[Commie Basher]

It will soon be two years since 9/11. We have no way of knowing all the failed attempts that have been made since then.

True -- and very convenient.

We also have no way of knowing how many lives were saved due to govt regulations from the FDA, EPA, OHSA, etc. We have no way of knowing how much dumber kids would be without public schools. With every law and regulation, with every spending, you can say, "But we have no way of knowing how much worse it could have been without it."

Increasingly, I see "conservatives" adopt liberal reasoning.

[Diddle E. Squat]

CNN is reporting that the Libertarian leader has resigned. Don't know if we'll still send in troops...

[LilithUnfair]

So how do you know that unless you listen? And if he bugs you so much, why do you listen? :)