Pubdate: Tue, 10 Sep 2002
Source: Northwest Arkansas Times (AR)
Copyright: 2002 Community Publishers Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nwarktimes.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/828
Author: Steve Dasbach Libertarian Party
Note: Steve Dasbach is executive director of the Washington-based 
Libertarian Party.

Guest Commentary

GOVERNMENT POSES GREATER THREAT

As we mark the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it's important to 
challenge the conventional wisdom that terrorism poses the greatest threat 
to our lives and liberty. Speaking bluntly -- it doesn't. Yes, terrorists 
took over 3,000 lives a year ago. And eventually there may be more 
terrorist attacks, and more innocent lives may be lost. But we need to 
remind ourselves that far more lives are lost every year due to the 
misguided policies of our own government. Americans die because government 
denies them the right to carry a weapon. Americans die because violent 
felons are released from jail to make room for non-violent drug users 
serving federally mandated sentences. Americans die because the FDA denies 
them access to new life-saving medicines. Americans die because they are 
prevented from using medical marijuana to control the nausea produced by 
chemotherapy and AIDS medications. And, while would-be terrorists can 
threaten our lives, they can't threaten our liberty. Only politicians 
overreacting to the threat of terrorism can accomplish that.

As columnist Walter Williams recently wrote, "It's Washington, not Osama 
bin Laden, that represents the greatest threat to both liberty and security."

Government officials promise that if we give up more of our liberty, 
they'll give us safety in return. But when have they ever kept up their end 
of the bargain? Legislation passed after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing 
gave the government more police powers to "protect us" from terrorists. Yet 
surrendering those liberties didn't result in safety on September 11.

Now the USA Patriot Act is the law of the land. National ID cards are 
coming. President George Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft even 
proposed creating a massive network of citizen informants and spies -- the 
TIPS program -- that would have seemed right at home in Communist East 
Germany. TIPS has been blocked for the moment, but it will be back. And if 
there's another terrorist attack, it will probably pass.

Random roadblocks are occurring more frequently, and for ever more 
ridiculous reasons. Unbelievably, Florida state troopers were recently 
pulling drivers over to take a mass transit survey. And Americans are 
putting up with it.

Every time you think that airport security measures can't get any more 
absurd, you read about a situation like 9-year-old Ryan Scott, whose 2- 
inch G. I. Joe rifle and tiny toy pistols were confiscated at a Wisconsin 
airport as federally prohibited items. When Ryan's mom and her fiance 
questioned the measure, the security personnel responded by searching her 
and threatening to destroy the toys. It sounds too absurd to be real -- but 
it's happening. And Americans are putting up with it.

American citizens have even been detained without being charged with a 
crime and without being permitted to see an attorney because they are 
suspected of being involved with terrorists. And far too many Americans 
seem to think that's OK. They don't understand that once you give 
government that kind of power, it is inevitable that it will be turned 
against the innocent as well as the guilty.

And it gets worse. The war drums are beating for a pre-emptive attack on 
Iraq. Launched by presidential decree. Not in response to an attack, and 
without a Congressional declaration of war, as required by the Constitution.

In turn, we're hearing more and more politicians suggest that we need to 
bring back the draft. I'm old enough to remember Vietnam -- the young 
Americans killed and maimed, the lives and families destroyed. The draft 
makes it easier for governments to launch senseless wars, and thus makes 
them more likely. It's tough to come up with a greater threat to the lives 
and liberty of our children than a resumption of the draft. Some Republican 
leaders may quietly bemoan the expansion of government power in the name of 
fighting terrorism, but they aren't likely to stand up and oppose their 
president. Some Democratic leaders may be dismayed at the loss of civil 
liberties in the name of fighting terrorism, but they are too afraid of 
being branded as unpatriotic to take a stand. At a time like this, it's 
time for ordinary Americans to stand up for freedom. We can best honor 
those who perished at the hands of terrorists by ensuring that our precious 
liberties don't perish at the hands of politicians.

Steve Dasbach is executive director of the Washington-based Libertarian Party.
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