Warning: Unpopular Opinion Ahead.

[quidditchgrrl]

So, today. Five years later.

Not much has changed for the better.

The terrorists didn't erode our safety, didn't compromise our freedoms. We did that ourselves, through complacency and a feeble sense that we deserve to be safe, just because we're Americans.

It seems like we're ready to believe anything, to give up our reasonable right to live our lives without government scrutiny, in pursuit of something no one is ever promised - tomorrow.

In my state, you can't walk down the street without being required to identify yourself. If you cannot produce papers, you can go to jail. This is supposed to fight terrorism.

It's an insult to every soldier currently fighting, to every civil servant serving, and to every last person who died on September 11, 2001. Heck, to anyone who has fought to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

Am I sad? Sure. Am I still angry? You bet. Do I feel safe? Less than I did before September 11, 2001, but not because of the threat of terrorism.

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety.
--Benjamin Franklin (or Richard Jackson, depending on your source)

Comments

[ladyaeryn.livejournal.com]

You know, this may be unpopular, but I still agree with the general idea. I sure don't think I'm that much safer than I was in the days after 9/11, and whatever's been "gained" I don't think has been worth the price. In fact, I probably am more worried about traveling abroad now than I was before, since what our bumfucked administration did after 9/11 has ensured pretty much every country out there hates Americans, whereas before the general belief seemed to be maybe not positive toward us, but certainly not as hostile.

The current administration seems to think that the only way we'll have defeated those damn terrorists is when there's zero possibility of falling victim to another attack, which is not going to happen. Even if the Bush administration throws the entire Bill of Rights into a bonfire in an effort to keep the bad guys out, if someone really wants to, they'll find a way in. And even if they didn't, you don't need to look any further than a mile from where I work to remember that outside is not the only place we're in danger of being attacked from.

Amen to that Franklin quote.