Americans too eager to trade liberty for safety

Every time there is tragic death at the hands of a maniac, Americans seem all to quick to accept intrusions into our privacy and personal lives by agents of the government.....for our safety. But where does it end?

After 9/11, out of fear, we accepted the Patriot Act which allows to this day, unwarranted wire tapping, e-mail interception, and all manner of government peering into our private lives. After every mass shooting, which ever administration is in power calls for more gun control and more gun-free zones, as if any of this nonsense would stop a shooter. During the search for the Boston bomber this week, Watertown residents were in a "lockdown" situation as the police conducted house to house searches. I wonder if these searches were voluntary or as I've heard, some were conducted despite the owners' specific refusal to allow the search.

The militarization of the police force is another frightening aspect of our demand for safety over liberty.

Everybody from democrats to Fox News anchors are wondering why the FBI didn't detain these guys when they traveled to Russia and why they didn't interrogate them more thoroughly when the popped up on the terror-watch radar a couple of years ago. Answer: because they had done nothing wrong.

I'm very critical of the government on this blog nearly every day. Does that mean I shouldn't be allowed to travel or that I should be questioned by the authorities? How am I any different from these two brothers from two years ago? Unless you're willing to forego privacy, the sanctity of your home, and accept a police division of pre-crime, you have to accept that in a free society, sometimes people are going to kill other people.

It is ironic that Bostonians willingly ceded civic liberties in exchange for the illusion of safety on the very anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord where their ancestors threw off the yoke of an oppressive government and were willing to die rather than cede liberties.