Don’t Trade Freedom of Speech for Security
I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the editorial, “Be Careful What Gets Stifled” (Oct. 2). As White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer’s comment that in times like these ‘people have to watch what they say and watch what they do’ gets changed and softened in the different media, you got it right (I heard the original). Freedom of speech is important, particularly in the light of what the president tells us we are fighting for.
Karin Howard
Los Angeles
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I was shocked to read in “The Court That Wields the Wiretap” (Sept. 30) that the U.S. has a court similar to the Spanish Inquisition or the Nazi Gestapo. The fact that at present this is limited to spies is little reassurance, since the proceedings are secret and Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft wants to enlarge its powers. I was born in Germany and saw opposition to the regime beaten down by midnight searches without warrants and imprisonment in concentration camps without trial. I gladly served in the U.S. Army during World War II to protect our freedoms. And now I find that we are not protected!
Paul W. Shadle
Irvine
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Freedom from arbitrary government interference. That’s what America stands for. Am I worried about my phone being wiretapped? Only if I don’t want the listener to hear how my child was voted to the all-star team or how much I love my wife. Am I worried about racial profiling? Only if I mind being stopped for a few minutes, only to be quickly released when the truth is discovered.
Am I worried about future sneak attacks? You bet I am. But if I have information to stop the attack before it begins will I feel safer? You bet I will. So go ahead, tap my phone and momentarily impede my movement but give my children’s children’s children a place to live and love.
Alan Shapiro
Newhall
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Modified rights are, I fear, rights possibly lost forever. Our leaders, at every level, should make it a top priority to find ways not to trim our protections as American citizens. Big government has always looked for ways to chip away at the blessings of our founders. Ask the advice of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and George Washington. I think their voices would sound as one. They ring as a chorus in the heart of our country, if you will but open your ears and hear them. There is a way to come through this and safeguard the heritage of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Hard work, yes, but vital if our gift of representative government ever has a chance of being given to victims of oppression throughout the world.
Tom Hammond
San Juan Capistrano
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At least to those of us who remember or study history, the title Office of Homeland Security brings chilling visions of heils, jackboots and “Deutschland Uber Alles.” For many Americans “Office of U.S. Security” would have a much happier and more reassuring sound.
Eleanor Jackson
Palm Springs