All That's Lost

I was talking to a friend a few days back about the Statue of Liberty and how after visiting New York since I was 19, I've never visited Liberty Island nor trekked to the top of the statue. He said he'd taken his nieces a while back but that the option to go to the top no longer exists.

As a junior high school kid I remember Lee Iacocca leading the international effort to raise money to restore her. It was a phenomenal success because back in the 80s, patriotism came easy and hadn't yet been hijacked by the rabid right wing, though it was well on its way. They got patriotism and the rabid left got network news and NPR. I'm not sure who came out better but those of us in the middle came up short: but that's another story.

It's a sad state when you consider all the once popular tourist destinations now blocked-off due to the omnipresent "threat of terrorism", or so we're told. Spineless paranoia seems to have spread, from the view atop Lady Liberty to Pennsylvania Avenue, recently converted into a pedestrian-only walkway, once a busy, functioning street where busy functioning citizens could drive by the Presidential mansion with as much disregard as wide-eyed Young Republicans now meander on the sidewalk out front. It's all about security we're told. But when you stop and think about all the changes taken place since September 11, 2001, it's enough to break your red-white-and-blue heart. Does anyone actually care about the Patriot Act anymore and the fact that dozens of our civil liberties, many guaranteed by the Constitution have been put on ice, perhaps permanently? Government can look into our bank accounts now, storm into our homes without more of a cause than "suspected threat to the homeland", all without warrants. Same goes for email communications, phone conversations, our mail and sadly even our homes, all in the name of protecting us from the ever present terrorists. I'm not saying the government hasn't done a great job of holding off more terrorist attacks since that day, but at what point does the price become too high? About six years ago I'll say. We're being watched and monitored unlike at any other time if our oblivious history. It's an argument I know many make but that falls on so many deaf ears. Even friends of mine have used the old "if you have nothing to hide, what are you worried about?" come-back during my constant tangents and tirades against this new protectionism. The sad truth is that the argument seems to be working all too well. No one on the left, right or in the middle for that matter seems to be paying much attention and the result is less privacy, fewer liberties and a slowly rotting free and open society, all because a group of Arabs hijacked some planes and ran them into buildings. It's the high price we have to pay we're told to "win" the war on terror when in fact, we've won nothing and lost so much.

Posted by JD on April 6, 2008 2:43 PM