Freedom or Security

Benjamin Franklin wasn’t lying when he said “He who sacrifices freedom for security is neither free, nor secure. If you really think about it, this quote makes you think “are we really safe in this country?” All the attacks we have witness or suffered, have we reached the point where we should sacrifice our FREEDOM? With the patriot act, torturing, drones flying around, and just having our civil liberties taken away it seems like our freedom is already gone just so we can have “security.” You shouldn’t have to sacrifice your freedom for anything! In the article “Is there a drone in your backyard?” by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, it was saying that there are drones or there will be drones flying around and snapping picture of things that might be “interesting.” If the drone finds something that catches it’s eye like a fertilizer for roses it might think it’s a fuel for a bomb. I could see where that drone is coming from, but at that same time you are invading somebody’s privacy, which that is also a part of somebody’s freedom. I wouldn’t want anything flying in my backyard and think I’m doing anything something that I’m not supposed to be doing. I have the right to my own privacy!

In that same article is saying that there are drones that can kill people. It’s bad enough that you have drones flying around in peoples’ backyard snapping pictures and now they have drones killing people. I feel like the drones would be a good way to catch a terrorist, but at that same time I don’t think so because you might catch the wrong person; No one will be safe if that would happen. Torturing is definitely taking away someone’s freedom. When I watched “Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties,” the government were taking Arabs (or detainees) and taking them to a camp to torture them. Most of those detainees were innocent; they were taking innocent people JUST BECAUSE they looked like a terrorist. People were taken away from their families, they couldn’t call anyone, they were beaten, spit on, all because they LOOKED like a terrorist. Anybody could be a terrorist, but it was just stereotype that a terrorist looked Arabic, with their head covered with a scarf, they have a very long dark beard, and they wear blankets as clothes; their freedom and dignity was taken away because they were tortured.

I would hate to feel like I’m nothing to this country; my freedom, my dignity, and everything would go out the window if I were to be tortured. If you got the right person then everything would be fine, you’ll get the information you need and put that person away. But what if they got the wrong person? What will happen then? You’ll just be torturing the wrong person while the real terrorist is getting away. If you’re getting tortured and you were innocent, you would tell whoever is torturing you anything just so you could stop being tortured and go home. Just how John McCain did when he gave the starting line up to the Green Bay Packers when they asked him for the men that he worked with. They would do anything just so they won’t get tortured, I know I would! If 9/11 didn’t happen, would people still have to sacrifice their freedom? Would America be safer? Will America ever be safe AGAIN? Would the patriot act happen? Would we have to worry about terrorist today in 2012? Would the government still have to spy on us? Would drones still be flying around in our backyard? Would they (drones) still be out killing people? How would America be if 9/11 didn’t happen? We Americans shouldn’t have our civil liberties just so we can be “protected.”