Amercan loss of freedoms

(This video features many important current and former government members who have seen the ugly downside of our government`s war against rights and freedoms…in the name of fighting “terrorism”. It is worth an hour of your time to review it.)

This past decade in America has been the most devastating in regards to American freedoms and privacy since the American Constitution was ratified in 1787. We have allowed our government undo powers in the name of “protecting” American interests which are both alarming and crippling of our individual sovereignty and independence of both movement and finance. We have repeated the mistakes of the past such as when we incarcerated Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor and Germans during WW2...or for that matter "communists" during the McCarthy era. How is it we Americans have become so fearful and weak in the face of adversity?

Here are just a few of the rights lost via the so called “Patriot Act”…initiated by the Bush administration and extended by the Obama Administration:

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION: Government may monitor religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal activity to assist terror investigations.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: Government has closed once-public immigration hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of people without charges, and has encouraged bureaucrats to resist public records questions.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH: Government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone that the government subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation.

RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION: Government may monitor federal prison jailhouse conversations between attorneys and clients, and deny lawyers to Americans accused of crimes.

FREEDOM FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES: Government may search and seize Americans' papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror investigation.

RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL: Government may jail Americans indefinitely without a trial.

RIGHT TO LIBERTY: Americans may be jailed without being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them.

Another indication of the times is our government`s use and budget for private armies and bounty hunters who replace our troops in foreign countries in pursuing terrorists. So...we not only pay for a huge traditional defense budget, but taxpayers also pay a lot of "dark forces" to do the "dirty work" that our regular forces might not do "legally". This morality reflects back to domestic policy of our government as well. Justification of "the ends justify the means" is contributing to the immorality and lack of justice and freedom within our own borders.

Now, while many of you are probably saying “what is the problem if I am not a criminal and have nothing to hide?” I would suggest that if you study the history of tyranny from Nazi Germany to present day dictatorships such as Venezuela and Cuba…the same reasoning by autocratic leaders is used to get their way over individual sovereignty. Benjamin Franklin was so right on when he wrote…”Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”.

I need to state for the record that I have no problem with taking strong actions militarily and otherwise to defend our country`s borders and the freedoms contained within those borders. Yet, I do not think those methods should include limiting rights of ALL Americans within our own borders. If we do not take action soon against this invasion of freedom and privacy in our own country by our own government, it will soon be too late…just as it was in Hitler`s Germany and Stalin`s Russia. That wasn’t so long ago…and it seems America could be going down that road of government controls and autocracy featured by our former enemy states. I personally don’t think it will take long to get there. It will be in my lifetime unless we reverse this NOW.