Freedom Comes With Responsibility

August 5, 2005

 

Have the Europeans figured out the key to curbing the rising tide of terrorism or have they crossed the line on civil rights? Benjamin Franklin once said, “ They that give up liberty for security deserve neither.” Of course, Franklin never had to deal with modern-day terrorists. The realities of the day dictate that extra precautions be taken at airports to ensure the safety of passengers and, now, those on the ground. We routinely subject ourselves to baggage and body searches in the name of safety. I'm certainly no different. I take off my shoes for the TSA just like everyone else. What would Franklin think about all that?

 

Now these routine searches have popped up at transit checkpoints across England and America. Shoot to kill orders have been issued in both countries and authorities are determined to prevent a similar terrorist attack from happening here. Does the extra security violate our civil rights? The ACLU certainly thinks so. They've filed suit against the city of New York for checking backpacks at subway turnstiles. They argue that arbitrary searches violate our constitutional rights. These are the same folks who argued that criminal profiling and singling out suspicious travelers also violated our constitutional rights. So what are we to do?

 

It's rare that European countries are doing anything we should emulate but they're on to something. France recently deported an iman for preaching hate at mosques in Paris. “ We will not keep people on our territory who issue calls to hatred, to violence and to the disrespect of our democratic values,” said French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. The British Home Office is drawing up a bill outlawing “indirect incitement of terrorism.” The Dutch justice minister has proposed legislation that would make praising terrorism a punishable offense. They would also strip imams and others of their credentials to work, if convicted.

 

Naturally, one has to be careful not to cross the line into violating free speech but is that line in a different place for non-citizens? Civil libertarians will argue that non-citizens have the same constitutional rights as the rest of us but they would be wrong. Non-citizens, for instance, don't have the right to vote. I would also argue that they don't even have a right to be here. If our national interest dictates that we purge our system of those who may do us harm, there's nothing in the constitution that protects a non-citizen from being deported.

 

I've seen undercover video of Muslim clerics in this country preaching the worst kind of vile hatred imaginable. These sermons are coming from mosques all across America. Followers of this extremist type of Islam gather together to foment and spread hatred of T he Great Satan , the United States of America. Instead of sweeping up these pieces of human debris, our government forces us to take our shoes off at security checkpoints and wands little, old Mennonite women. Common sense would dictate that we rid ourselves of these extremists before we subject the rest of the law-abiding population to the very thing the ACLU complains is a violation of our basic rights but it's the ACLU that's standing in the way of their deportation.

 

After the July 7 transit bombings, the British have finally had enough. They're taking measures to rid their country of those bent on its destruction. They, unlike us, have figured out that you don't have to sit around and wait for non-citizens to blow you up. You can blow them out.

 

What? The British teaching us a little something about responsible freedom? I'm sure ole Ben is smiling at the irony.