This article makes an interesting comparison between Roman history and the post 9/11 history of the U.S. The author draws a number of parallels highlighting the effects of citizens ceding their rights to the government when panic ensues after an event such as a terrorist attack. The similarities are striking. The author makes a good point about the “Law of unintended consequences.” We would all do well to remember the lessons of Rome so that we don’t make the same mistakes.
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Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out this week. I do know some about this already, but I’ll do more research this week before reading the NYT article. I like to read everything in the NYT/WP with a grain of salt. As such, I tend to do my research before diving into their articles.
Good stuff. Been reading a lot about this. I agree with your reservations on the comparisons, but do believe it has some historical significance that needs to be considered. A big question that lingers in my mind is the difference in destruction between pirates vs terrorism. Any significant orchestrated campaign like we saw on September 11th could leave us in a world of hurt. I don’t like giving away any rights. I don’t know if you remember how much of a privacy ‘freak’ I am. I don’t like the government, or anyone else for that matter, sticking their noses in my business. I’m also a big advocate of smaller government, which seems contrary to the support of a program like this.In all, I’m more worried about the power these laws give to other people down the road than they provide to the current administration. I worry that they will be mis-used much like the patriot act already has. I worry that one day that ‘interrigation’ law can be used to hold anyone indefinitly without a charge (remember Mitnick?). Above all these worries are the worries I have from reading translated terror sites. Sites that describe attacks the likes of which we haven’t seen yet. This makes me want to have protections in place that give our people the best chance at stopping them before we get hit. I do want more oversight on these, but considering the leaks that have come out of oversight committies in recent years, I don’t know if I trust that system. I wish that the FISA court would have been getting wire-tapping warrants. However, I also understand that means that our government would only have a three-day window to handle sensitive intelligence before those taps could also be leaked.I believe in a perfect vaccuum, government would have all the oversight and intercommunication we all desire. But I’m too much of a realist to know that there is no such thing as a perfect government. As long as we have people like Mr Murtha who have been proven to take bribes for votes (http://www.youdontknowjack.org/) and people like Mr. Hoekstra who admits to ‘playing politics’ we will never have a government capable of responsible oversight.So what’s the answer? How do we address the ‘threats’ without losing liberty? Do we address them at all? I’m interested in any ideas you have because I’m fresh out 🙂
The threats posed by terrorism are too grave to be ignored. However, we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be scared into giving up our freedom for the promise of security because we will be left with neither. If there’s one thing that should be clear from the last 5 years, it’s that brute force isn’t enough. Terrorists are perfectly willing to kill themselves to advance their cause and they don’t care who gets in the way. Yet, the harder we push back, the more we strengthen their ranks. It’s like a Chinese finger puzzle. So what are the solutions? I think education is a large piece of it. Terrorism also feeds on hate and discrimination. If we work towards promoting understanding between religious and cultural groups, that will go a long way towards diffusing the sentiments that fuel mistrust and resentment between these groups. The hard part is that we need to do this both at home and abroad and our credibility abroad isn’t exactly great right now. There are also the issues of nuclear proliferation out of North Korea and/or Iran. This issue is going to require the best efforts of our diplomats and our intelligence community. My mind is starting to race in at least 5 different directions, so I’ll stop here. I believe there are solutions to these problems, I just wish I knew them all.