It Can't Happen Here
Here's an important message from Rep Ron Paul:
http://www.freedomclubusa.com/it_can_t_happen_here
It Can't Happen Here
by Rep. Ron Paul, MD
Ron Paul Archives
LewRockwell.com Home Page
In 2002 I asked my House colleagues a rhetorical question with regard to the
onslaught of government growth in the post-September 11th era: Is America
becoming a police state?
The question is no longer rhetorical. We are not yet living in a total
police state, but it is fast approaching. The seeds of future tyranny have
been sown, and many of our basic protections against government have been
undermined. The atmosphere since 2001 has permitted Congress to create whole
new departments and agencies that purport to make us safer - always at the
expense of our liberty. But security and liberty go hand-in-hand. Members of
Congress, like too many Americans, don't understand that a society with no
constraints on its government cannot be secure. History proves that
societies crumble when their governments become more powerful than the
people and private institutions.
Unfortunately, the new intelligence bill passed by Congress two weeks ago
moves us closer to an encroaching police state by imposing the precursor to
a full-fledged national ID card. Within two years, every American will need
a "conforming" ID to deal with any federal agency - including TSA at the
airport.
Undoubtedly many Americans and members of Congress don't believe America is
becoming a police state, which is reasonable enough. They associate the
phrase with highly visible symbols of authoritarianism like military
patrols, martial law, and summary executions. But we ought to be concerned
that we have laid the foundation for tyranny by making the public more
docile, more accustomed to government bullying, and more accepting of
arbitrary authority - all in the name of security. Our love for liberty
above all has been so diminished that we tolerate intrusions into our
privacy that would have been abhorred just a few years ago. We tolerate
inconveniences and infringements upon our liberties in a manner that
reflects poorly on our great national character of rugged individualism.
American history, at least in part, is a history of people who don't like
being told what to do. Yet we are increasingly empowering the federal
government and its agents to run our lives.
Terror, fear, and crises like 9-11 are used to achieve complacency and
obedience, especially when citizens are deluded into believing they are
still a free people. The loss of liberty, we are assured, will be minimal,
short-lived, and necessary. Many citizens believe that once the war on
terror is over, restrictions on their liberties will be reversed. But this
war is undeclared and open-ended, with no precise enemy and no expressly
stated final goal. Terrorism will never be eradicated completely; does this
mean future presidents will assert extraordinary war powers indefinitely?
Washington DC provides a vivid illustration of what our future might look
like. Visitors to Capitol Hill encounter police barricades, metal detectors,
paramilitary officers carrying fully automatic rifles, police dogs, ID
checks, and vehicle stops. The people are totally disarmed; only the police
and criminals have guns. Surveillance cameras are everywhere, monitoring
street activity, subway travel, parks, and federal buildings. There's not
much evidence of an open society in Washington, DC, yet most folks do not
complain - anything goes if it's for government-provided safety and
security.
After all, proponents argue, the government is doing all this to catch the
bad guys. If you don't have anything to hide, they ask, what are you so
afraid of? The answer is that I'm afraid of losing the last vestiges of
privacy that a free society should hold dear. I'm afraid of creating a
society where the burden is on citizens to prove their innocence, rather
than on government to prove wrongdoing. Most of all, I'm afraid of living in
a society where a subservient populace surrenders its liberties to an
all-powerful government.
It may be true that average Americans do not feel intimidated by the
encroachment of the police state. Americans remain tolerant of what they see
as mere nuisances because they have been deluded into believing total
government supervision is necessary and helpful, and because they still
enjoy a high level of material comfort. That tolerance may wane, however, as
our standard of living falls due to spiraling debt, endless deficit spending
at home and abroad, a declining fiat dollar, inflation, higher interest
rates, and failing entitlement programs. At that point attitudes toward
omnipotent government may change, but the trend toward authoritarianism will
be difficult to reverse.
Those who believe a police state can't happen here are poor students of
history. Every government, democratic or not, is capable of tyranny. We must
understand this if we hope to remain a free people.
December 21, 2004
Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas.
http://www.freedomclubusa.com/it_can_t_happen_here
It Can't Happen Here
by Rep. Ron Paul, MD
Ron Paul Archives
LewRockwell.com Home Page
In 2002 I asked my House colleagues a rhetorical question with regard to the
onslaught of government growth in the post-September 11th era: Is America
becoming a police state?
The question is no longer rhetorical. We are not yet living in a total
police state, but it is fast approaching. The seeds of future tyranny have
been sown, and many of our basic protections against government have been
undermined. The atmosphere since 2001 has permitted Congress to create whole
new departments and agencies that purport to make us safer - always at the
expense of our liberty. But security and liberty go hand-in-hand. Members of
Congress, like too many Americans, don't understand that a society with no
constraints on its government cannot be secure. History proves that
societies crumble when their governments become more powerful than the
people and private institutions.
Unfortunately, the new intelligence bill passed by Congress two weeks ago
moves us closer to an encroaching police state by imposing the precursor to
a full-fledged national ID card. Within two years, every American will need
a "conforming" ID to deal with any federal agency - including TSA at the
airport.
Undoubtedly many Americans and members of Congress don't believe America is
becoming a police state, which is reasonable enough. They associate the
phrase with highly visible symbols of authoritarianism like military
patrols, martial law, and summary executions. But we ought to be concerned
that we have laid the foundation for tyranny by making the public more
docile, more accustomed to government bullying, and more accepting of
arbitrary authority - all in the name of security. Our love for liberty
above all has been so diminished that we tolerate intrusions into our
privacy that would have been abhorred just a few years ago. We tolerate
inconveniences and infringements upon our liberties in a manner that
reflects poorly on our great national character of rugged individualism.
American history, at least in part, is a history of people who don't like
being told what to do. Yet we are increasingly empowering the federal
government and its agents to run our lives.
Terror, fear, and crises like 9-11 are used to achieve complacency and
obedience, especially when citizens are deluded into believing they are
still a free people. The loss of liberty, we are assured, will be minimal,
short-lived, and necessary. Many citizens believe that once the war on
terror is over, restrictions on their liberties will be reversed. But this
war is undeclared and open-ended, with no precise enemy and no expressly
stated final goal. Terrorism will never be eradicated completely; does this
mean future presidents will assert extraordinary war powers indefinitely?
Washington DC provides a vivid illustration of what our future might look
like. Visitors to Capitol Hill encounter police barricades, metal detectors,
paramilitary officers carrying fully automatic rifles, police dogs, ID
checks, and vehicle stops. The people are totally disarmed; only the police
and criminals have guns. Surveillance cameras are everywhere, monitoring
street activity, subway travel, parks, and federal buildings. There's not
much evidence of an open society in Washington, DC, yet most folks do not
complain - anything goes if it's for government-provided safety and
security.
After all, proponents argue, the government is doing all this to catch the
bad guys. If you don't have anything to hide, they ask, what are you so
afraid of? The answer is that I'm afraid of losing the last vestiges of
privacy that a free society should hold dear. I'm afraid of creating a
society where the burden is on citizens to prove their innocence, rather
than on government to prove wrongdoing. Most of all, I'm afraid of living in
a society where a subservient populace surrenders its liberties to an
all-powerful government.
It may be true that average Americans do not feel intimidated by the
encroachment of the police state. Americans remain tolerant of what they see
as mere nuisances because they have been deluded into believing total
government supervision is necessary and helpful, and because they still
enjoy a high level of material comfort. That tolerance may wane, however, as
our standard of living falls due to spiraling debt, endless deficit spending
at home and abroad, a declining fiat dollar, inflation, higher interest
rates, and failing entitlement programs. At that point attitudes toward
omnipotent government may change, but the trend toward authoritarianism will
be difficult to reverse.
Those who believe a police state can't happen here are poor students of
history. Every government, democratic or not, is capable of tyranny. We must
understand this if we hope to remain a free people.
December 21, 2004
Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas.
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 8:45 AM
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