Philadelphia Inquirer piece with Brad Thor on the loss of Freedom in the US
My piece with Brad Thor starts this way:
July Fourth might be the day we celebrate freedom, but can America still truly be called the land of the free? Even for something as basic as our health care, we need government approval. We can't buy 75-watt or above incandescent bulbs. Our children face disciplinary action for playing with imaginary guns. Don't think we're drowning in regulations and government overreach? Try setting up a small business.
But as crazy as these examples are, the list goes on:
As our government collects data on whom we call, how long we talk, and where we are when we do our talking, can America still be classified as free? How about when our government collects all of our e-mails, texts, and credit-card transactions without a warrant or reasonable suspicion - despite the protections of the Fourth Amendment? . . .
Labels: op-ed
posted by John Lott at 9:26 AM
1 Comments:
It's worse than that:
*govt has become rule by decree from president and his unelected czars - EPA is just one example;
*govt schools grow ever more cynically inept and politically correct;
*examples of paramilitary police are growing; (see AEI's map of police raids in US that were illegal or went awry, leading to death of innocents;
*govt agencies are going rogue. The IRS is just one. Why does the Dept of Education need armed thugs?
*VA's ABC "agents" are now armed?? Chased down and arrested a terrified college student for her purchase of a case of spring water they thought was beer;
*a teenager in Texas now in jail for a remark online - clearly sarcastic & he immediately apologized at the time. A lone white rightwing extremist...or an out-of-control legal bureaucracy?
*BHO's mean-spirited closure of the White House to the public and our lack of push-back shows the level of apathy;
Law enforcement and the judiciary have become blunt instruments, and we are fast becoming - no,*HAVE* become a soviet state w/ a stasi mentality. Even the apolitical - like that kid & his family - are feeling the boot.
A new government scandal wouldn't change the zeitgeist. The current administration has inured us to crises by creating so many scandals we're numb.
The next manufactured crisis will come via the ramping up race-based rage and acting out if Zimmerman is not convicted...they ignored the trial but will be all over the verdict if it's not what they want.
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