A fine (long) essay by Steven Den Beste about how, warts and all, the US has come an incredibly long way when it comes to freedom and equality.
Perfection? Absolutely not. But a hell of a lot better than things once were (or, in most places, still are). As we consider (justly) concerns over Homeland Security, we should keep that in mind, too.
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I’ll have to disagree with his essay; just because something isn’t as bad as it is in, say, Saudi Arabia, that doesn’t make it any less bad.
He cites Miranda as being a positive force — and it is — but fails to neglect the assault on it, which will likely see its removal.
I still think we don’t need a Dept. of Homeland Security — can the Orwellian nomenclature, for one thign — we just need the existing agencies to do their jobs. This big brother crap is not what the US is about.
“Just because something isn’t as bad as it is in, say, Saudi Arabia, that doesn’t make it any less bad.”
I think that makes SDB’s point.
Is there room for improvement? Absolutely. Will we likely see some things compromised that shouldn’t be? Almost certainly. Is the price of liberty eternal vigilence? Yup.
Does all of that make living in the US the equivalent of living in the PRC, or in Cuba, or in Saudi, or in Iraq? How silly.
Black-and-white thinking is a cognitive distortion — and it’s just the sort of irrationality that leads to Orwellian states.
I interpreted the essay to mean varying degrees of bad. For instance, a child stealing a candy bar is bad, a priest raping a child who trusts him is VERY bad. I think the majority of americans don’t really realize what “bad” means or is to the rest of the world. The people we consider poor in this country don’t really have it “bad” when compared to the poor of other countries. I do agree that another agency or another law is not what is needed, knowledge and enforcement of current laws, and a little common sense, would make our lives even better.