Freedom Security Fear Privacy Democracy

The Canadian government is planning legislation to allow the police access to cell phone conversations and email, in the name of national security. Civil libertarians are outraged. Fortunately I have nothing to fear from this, being a loyal citizen. But isn't that what non-Jews said in Nazi Germany? "I'm not a Jew, so I'm ok." But then it was the Gypsies, and then the disabled, then the terminally ill, then the useless aged, one group after the other. One had to toe the line in Nazi land, and be the right kind of person. Now I don't wish to blow this out of proportion - our government is like a band of angels compared with some regimes, even the one to our immediate south. Nonetheless, the creeping invasion of privacy is worrisome. The whole Western world is living in fear; there's a terrorist behind every tree. This doesn't bode well for freedom and democracy. I'm told that a majority will always opt for security over freedom, which calls to mind a quote from Benjamin Franklin: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety." So much for the famous "Give me liberty or give me death" or the ludicrous "Live free or die" on New Hampshire license plates.

Privacy hardly exists any more. No one is watching when I undress and shower, but beyond that nothing is certain. I don't know who's reading my email. I don't know who's snooping into my bank account. I check my credit card invoice carefully each month. As I was once a supporter of a moderate left-leaning party, am I on someone's subversive list? Tommy Douglas, father of medicare, was considered a Communist in the U.S.

George Bush natters incessantly about freedom, yet he has no understanding of freedom or of its implications. I feel embarrassed for him, for his posturing, for his ignorance. He tells the Chinese how to run their country. He hallucinates about the spreading of democracy and freedom in the Middle East. He has no more idea of how the world functions than a three-year old. He and his inner circle are considered by many to be international criminals, warmongers and war profiteers. It's not easy to argue against that. It's heartening to see that a majority of Americans now disapprove of Bush, finally joining the rest of the world. What took them so long?