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Companion Article: Ill Fares the Land
When someone declares 'people will die' as a justification for curtailing liberty, the correct response is, 'what are you suggesting - that liberty isn't worth dying for? That those who sacrificed their lives for our freedoms made the wrong choice?' -Techdirt Forum Post by OldMugwump, 2013  Author's Note: This was originally written during the era of 9/11 boogie-man terrorism. For the purposes of modernization, please replace any instance of the word 'security' with 'bio-security', and any instance of the word 'terror' with 'virus'. None of this theater has ever been about safety. It has only ever been about control. _____________ We no longer know the meaning of freedom. We have traded away everything to a false prophet. We refuse to see that belonging to a government is a fate far worse than any terrorist can reap; than any madman can sow. The word of a terrorist has no power over us. The government's word is law. In the name of security we will lose our security. In addition to the terrorist we will have the relentless uncompromising gaze of the government. The power of the people is born from its freedom, and it is the people who must be the guardians of that power. It is from our freedom that we draw the authority to force our government to abide its boundaries. Through the guise of security we are slowly allowing our government to relinquish that authority, and ultimately, the government will know no boundaries. Once we allow our freedoms to categorically run dry, we, as a people, will no longer have the authority to stand up to our government. ______________ Those who would trade essential liberty, to purchase temporary security, deserve neither and will lose both. When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. -Thomas Jefferson |
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