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Freedom the real victim

By George Baumler

  We’ll be entering into the fourth week of the war on terrorism, and predictably government and law enforcement agencies are asking for and receiving new powers to combat terrorism.  Counting upon the citizens’ emotional responses, rather than cool reflection, congress will give away the remnants of liberty, with the approval of the majority of Americans.  The effect is now being noticed among the general aviation community.  General aviation has at the time of this writing been grounded for weeks.  For owners paying salaries, insurance, aircraft, rent and airport fees, the war on terrorism is already a very costly one.  The ripple effect will be felt by aircraft mechanics, whose services will not be required, and the folks who do business with them will also be harmed if the ban on private aircraft isn’t lifted in time.  Meanwhile a costly bailout for badly managed large airlines is already a done deal.  Environmentalists are good at explaining the interdependence of life in the natural world; likewise economists should be sounding the alarm about the harm the lack of freedom does to the economic world.

  Vast government powers, that two short weeks ago would have been considered egregious invasions of personal privacy, are well on the way to being the law of the land.  Encryption will not be permitted without a back door for government snoops.  As the saying goes, in war, the first victim is the truth; the second victim has to be freedom.  Liberty voluntarily given up by citizens in time of crisis is not so readily returned when tranquility once again reigns.  The population once conditioned to regimentation seems not the feel the increasing weight of the yoke.  Traveling without proper clearance and identification will be a no-no.  This is war, and no citizen should be without his/her papers.  Taxation will have to be increased to pay for the war related materials that will be made and consumed in the effort. 

  Perhaps some time in the distant future, an objective historian will note the many causes of terrorism against the U.S. and will come to the conclusion that it could have been prevented by simply minding our own business.  Another observation that may be made is that this period marked the turning point when the last vestiges of the old republic, with its archaic notions of individual rights, were shed and the age of the empire began in earnest.