Don't you love it when the alarmists start shouting from the roof tops, “the sky is falling?” Or the “global warmest” predicts that we will all end up in a global frying pan in a hundred years. Then the polar ice cap is melting and raising the level of the ocean until half the world's population drowns.
If those and other catastrophes aren't enough to keep you up at night, try this one: we are living through the beginning of the “End of Western Civilization.” Did you ever wonder what the good intentioned Romans were doing during the “Fall” part of the “Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire?” They were probably mowing their lawns, going to games at the coliseum: Christians vs. the lions, and other activities Romans did in their spare time. They might even have spent time in local houses of worship, doing whatever they did to appease all the gods they needed to appease.
While the Roman's attention was on appeasement, the infidels were sneaking over the borders, making off with their chickens, geese and camels. Then when no resistance was offered, groups of infidels made off with their chariots, Gucci loafers, and more stuff that really counted. Soon hoards of infidels were destroying embassies, sinking ships and blowing up Marine barracks. By the time Roman authorities figured out what was going on they couldn't tell the good guys from the bad guys, they were surrounded and it was all over.
Let's say the U.S. has the mightiest armed force in the world, which arguably it has, so only a fool, or a fanatic who doesn't care, would try to take us head on. Some obscure group can declare war on us, as if we should even notice, blow-up a few embassies, a marine barracks, a naval vessel, and take out a few more Americans without much notice. The finale was, of course, the destruction of the World Trade Center with the most improbable and outlandish plan which could not have succeeded in a million years. Except it was successful and almost 3,000 people died horrible deaths because we were too arrogant to believe anyone could or would.
Our mighty intelligence services were awakened to the reality that there is a world wide “conspiracy” out there to “get us.” Several of our Western allies were awoken to find they are surrounded and infiltrated by millions of “moderate” cousins of the bomb throwers, who by the way, have a tendency to riot when they can't share the benefits of the Westerners. What then are we to do? After the Revolutionary War, we threw the Loyalists out of the country and sent them packing to Canada, as if that accomplished anything. In World War II, we locked up the Japanese in internment camps on the West Coast, and have been paying for it ever since. What can we do with all those “peace loving” Muslims out there whose interpretation of the Koran is benign, at least most of them, we think, hopefully.
In a free society like ours, enlightened, and respectful of the civil liberties of its' diverse population, we are seriously limited, almost to the point of self-emollition. Law enforcement can try to watch the obvious trouble-makers, but terrorists like those responsible for September 11th didn't attract much attention. Hopefully, things are different now.
Civil Libertarians object for good reason when in the name of national survival, our liberties are curtailed. In the midst of reacting to a national calamity like September 11th, it is understandable how actions deemed necessary for protection of the homeland against an unknown enemy, are considered necessary.
If the pendulum swings too far one way, then it is necessary to realign and find a new balance point, with national security as the fulcrum. If it means that some civil liberties must be redefined in view of new security concerns, it doesn't necessarily mean that the Republic is going to fail, but that it will survive if we are smart and quick enough. Civil libertarians must remain vigilant and when steps are taken that appear to violate our civil rights; they must bring them to attention of the populous. They must also recognize that some rights may have to be redefined and incorporated into the legal code to protect us from new kinds of threats.
