America's New Security State

That's the name of an essay at Defining Ideas, an excerpt of a book by Angelo Codevillo, which describes the use of state power against its citizens.  In the article, he defines how America has gotten less safe during the administrations of the past several presidents.  And, lest we forget, President George W. Bush gave us the Department of Homeland Security.

Childhood in the “land of the free, the home of the brave” must now include learning to spread-eagle and be still as government employees run their hands over you. Patriotism is now supposed to mean obeisance to the security establishment, accepting that the authorities may impose martial law on whole cities, keep track of all phone calls, or take whatever action they choose against any person for the sake of “homeland security,” and that theirs alone is the choice whether to disclose the basis for whatever they do.

Like many Americans, I chafe at the very idea of Homeland Security.  In their hunt for "domestic terrorists", they watch us all.

 Inevitably, then, apolitical policing is a pretense. By 2012, a Rasmussen poll showed that 64 percent of Americans were more afraid of terrorist attack from other Americans than from foreigners. No surprise. That had been the ruling class’s message for a decade. The focus on “homeland security” had succeeded in adding the suspicion of terrorism on top of all the reasons that Americans had to distrust and to blame one another for their troubles. But of whom should we be afraid?

I'm less afraid of terrorists than I am of the idiots in the various Homeland Security departments.  Eternal vigilance makes us less free and more distrustful of government.  Many of my fellow citizens don't remember when you could walk into an airport, pay for a ticket, and climb aboard an airplane with no government intervention.  That hasn't been the case since 2011 and may not be the case for a few more years.

With the drawdowns in the military and the troops coming home, it might he time to look toward drawing down the security apparatus.  I've always been taught that we can have security or freedom, but not both.