Friday, October 27, 2006

Give me (civil) liberties or give me ...

Patrick Henry wasn't specific about why type of liberty he would die for but I think it's fair to say that civil liberties were included. The ACLU was founded and continues to exist to fight for those liberties. Sometimes this fight is an uphill battle to be sure. This has been emphasized in my part of the country lately because Congressman Doolittle has been acusing his opponent of being a member of the ACLU, as if that were a bad thing. It seems Doolittle is all for protecting civil rights of his friends but not his enemies. Even Jesus argued that there was no virtue in loving your friends. The trick is to do good to those who "despitefully use you". The ACLU defends even those it disagrees with.

A good friend recently reminded me about some of the small, insidious ways that our civil liberties can be compromised. She shared with me this video clip produced in 2004 by the ACLU to get people to think about all the data that is being collected on us. Many of us say, "I have nothing to hide," or "if it will stop one terrorist, the government can collect all the information they want". Check it out at http://www.aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf

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