Are you willing to give up your civil liberties as a US citizen in exchange for government provided safety?

Question

The civil liberties I am referring to more specifically are:

1. The right to be presented with a warrant in order for any government agency to enter your home, to search you and to seize your property.

2. The right to habius corpus, ie. the right to an attorney's council.

3. The right to free speach and the right to assembly, including the right to vocally criticize policies you disagree with without impunity.

4. The right to have a court warrant issued in order for any government agency to engage in a secret wire tapping operation or in undisclosed data collection about you.

5. The right to a trial by your peers.

Some of these 'rights', once guaranteed by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights, are currently being sacrificed, and others have come into question, and all in the name of securing the nation.

If you had a choice, would you choose to give them up in order to feel safer? Do you feel safer?

Answer 1

nope cause safety is always a illusion how is the government going to stop everything most things they catch have allot of luck in its prevention , id rather be free

Answer 2

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security." Benjamin Franklin

Answer 3

Ha!!! like h**l... yea... what Elmer said, or well.. Ben Franklin...

Answer 4

There is no such thing as government provided safety. We are giving up our freedoms for an illusion of safety.

Answer 5

Actually,I would be ready to give up my life in order to preserve civil liberties for those who follow.

This country is full of easily distracted idiots who have no Idea what goes on beyond Britney's latest meltdown,who have no idea they're living in a police state,or what that even means.

Answer 6

This is a good question and the answer is of course NEVER! Never give up any civil liberties or freedom's for security. And the current fascist dictator should be impeached for breaking his oath to up hold the Constitution of the United States of America. Run the whole lot of misfits out of his administration. As far as I know we still have our rights, it's just they seem to keep getting ignored?

Answer 7

None of those things are being threated by Homeland security.

Answer 8

No I am not willing to give up these rights. So far no one has taken them away from is.

1- a warrant must be secured to search your home, not presented to you, as long as the police leave a copy in plain sight, with a list of items taken from the home, you do not have to be present.

2- the right to habeas corpus is not the right to an attorney's council; it brings a person before a judge to determine if that person's confinement is constitutional.

The U.S. Constitution, in Article I, section 9, forbids suspension of the writ “unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.” The very first statute enacted by the First Congress, the Judiciary Act of 1789, empowered all federal courts “to grant writs of habeas corpus for the purpose of an inquiry into the cause of commitment.”

3- Since you are complaining about your "free speech" being taken away and no jack-booted thugs have come to take you away and no government censor has removed this post from Yahoo; I would have to say that this right has not been abridged either.

4- The FISA courts must be told about any wiretapping done within 72 hours of the tapping, as for collection of data...Phone calls that are being listened to are from known or suspected terrorists to numbers in the US, why is does anuone think this is a bad thing? Be more worried about advertisers and the "cookies" and adware on your computer.

5- What US citizen has been denied a "trial by his peers"?

Even Jose Padilla got a trial by jury.

Answer 9

What Elmer said

Answer 10

Im a law abiding citizen with nothing to hide..sure,Ill go for what you propose

Answer 11

Never!  Agree with 1st person who answered and others!

Answer 12

No one can take my rights away. Rights exist independent of any institutions, they are inherently the individual's. Government can attempt to deny me their free exercise but they will have a fight on their hands.

Answer 13

I believe that we have given inch by inch and they are taking mile by mile.  It's time to stop giving anything .  Americans need to realize what is going on and figure out how to get our government controlled.  Huge problem / unfortunately, I can't offer a clue how to fix it.

Answer 14

You bring up valid concerns. I "hope" the current infringements on individual rights are relatively temporary. As an individual, I'm perfectly willing to "shoot my own dog - or terrorist" but recognize that this is not a societal solution. Many people would end up dead, as they may be unable to kill in defense, or just simply wait too long. Also, the USA is founded on the presumption of innocence - even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes! Even those arrested by the federal government are being given - carefully! - due process. And if it takes a while, it is a balance between the job of a government, to take care of issues beyond the individuals' ability to address and the protections of the Constitution for individuals.

Answer 15

A person that gives up their civil liberties for security ends up with neither.

Benjamin Franklin.

Besides, you don't have a choice. Bush has taken your constitutionally guaranteed rights away whether you wanted to give them up or not.

Answer 16

Nope!  I never gave them up, and I resent the fact that the same leader who got us into this Iraq mess is assuming he has the right to ignore those constitutional gaurantees.