When I was away on my travels I was in parts of the world that, though perfectly fine while I was there, aren't particularly stable places. During that time the terror level in the US was raised to orange, which made me wonder if perhaps I was better off staying where I was.
But then it came out that the warnings were based on old information, and once again it felt like the American public was being used as a pawn in the politics of fear. For a brief moment I feared terrorism, but it quickly gave way to a more plausible and real fear of my government.
I got back to the United States and endured an arduous journey on the Super Shuttle while it dropped off a bunch of people at hotels near the Capitol before getting to my erstwhile home in DC. My ordinary culture shock from two weeks away suddenly multiplied at the sight of all the roadblocks and checkpoints. I thought things were bad before I left; when I came back they somehow managed to be worse.
I don't mean worse in terms of being vulnerable to hypothetical terrorist acts. I mean worse in terms keeping the people even further away from their government. The ability to freely access it, to "peaceably ... assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances" (see the First Amendment) is fundamentally important to our notion of freedom. We need to start asking ourselves how many incursions onto it can be tolerated until there's no freedom left to protect.
Posted on 8/11/04 but really should have been on 8/10.
Comments (1)
I'd say the forth and fourteenth amendment implications here are far more severe than the first amenedment implications.
Though I agree with you that checkpoints and roadblocks (especially checkpoints) are a real problem.
Mark
Posted by Mark | August 11, 2004 12:16 PM
Posted on August 11, 2004 12:16