Friday, August 11, 2006

To Hell With The Fourth Amendment

Oh, damn everything. Bad enough to see signs yesterday that these liquid-and-gel bans on airplanes might be permanent, but today a New York appeals court ruled that random bag searches of New York subway riders are legal and constitutional. I talked about it over at Jim Henley’s blog and indulged in a little nostalgia:
I miss the halcyon days of my childhood. Ah, to be in seventh grade again and hear my civics teacher describe the best thing about living in America: unlike the oppressive governments of other countries, in America, unless the government has a damned good reason to suspect you’re up to something it has to leave you alone. And “he’s got water on the plane” or “she’s carrying a purse to work” were not good reasons.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think the frogs are starting to feel like it's a bit warm in this pot of water, know what I mean. I have been thinking that same sort of thought for about five or six years now. Longer really, but didn't articulate it...

5:01 PM  
Blogger The NE Curmudgeon said...

Americans have gotten far too comfortable. In order to keep on being comfortable, we seem to be willing to abandon our freedoms - because freedom is risky. We have dumbed down our idea of what freedom means. Being able to own and use a cell phone means freedom to my middle-schoolers, for instance - but they don't give a thought to not having those calls monitored by the government.

For all the macho posturing of our politicians (primarily Republicans), they are showing themselves to be little wussy cry-babies, enthusiastically lining up to give away their liberties in exchange for an Orwellian state. For all their belly-aching about the nanny state, Repubs don't seem to mind the current slide into dictatorship.

When a liberal-socialist-bleeding heart like myself is able to preach the sermon of bucking up to others, you KNOW there is a problem!

5:48 AM  

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