Letters: Safe at what price?
February 15, 2013 11:46PM
Updated: March 18, 2013 6:18AM
Are global warming, scarce resources, terrorism and national security valid reasons to ignore our Constitution and the freedoms of our citizens? Is keeping America safe a valid reason for TSA goons to sexually assault our grandparents, children, wives and husbands?
Is keeping our children safe at schools a valid reason for disarming America? Is global warming a valid reason to force America to submit to the global green police?
Is food safety a valid reason for banning lemonade stands? What good is a light bulb if it is illegal to use it? What good is electricity if I get fined for using too much?
They frame everything with fear because fear sells. Fear panics America into disarming itself. Fear panics America to trade our free markets for government takeover of business.
Global warming fear panics Americans to give up electricity and light bulbs. Global population fear mongering panics Americans into murdering innocent babies with abortion — and even considering murdering our grandparents with pain killers to make them more comfortable.
We are all human beings with living souls. Our Constitution protects our humanity and souls from being treated like animals by our own government. We are not animals. We are human beings with living souls.
Have you noticed how we are treated worse than animals at airports to “keep America safe?”
Does the TSA really need to irradiate and sexually assault us to keep America safe? Is this the only way? Do we really need to be treated this way by our own government? Has our Constitution become this irrelevant? I think not!
Tom Fisher
Joliet
Preserve our freedom
With a strong debate fired up over gun control and whether Second Amendment rights trump public safety — or for that matter — whether guns or people are evil, I find it ironic how various groups select which amendments of the Constitution they wish to follow to the letter.
Case in point, Second Amendment rights are sacrosanct while Fourth Amendment rights have been eroded for the past 40 years, with very little objection from the majority. The Fourth Amendment of the United States of America reads:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized.”
In the guise of being tough on crime and terrorism, we citizens of the United States have relinquished our rights to the Fourth Amendment. We have done this, not only with the passing of the Patriot Act, but by allowing police almost unlimited freedom to stop and search individuals under the pretext that they may have committed a crime.
While many of these searches are by consent of the individual being searched, refusal has its consequences, and the majority of these searches are the result of stereotyping individuals based on their race, religion, national origin, age or gender.
It is time to stop populating our prisons at taxpayer expense for drug offenders, who have no history of violence or significant selling activity. It is time to recognize that drug abuse is a health issue and return our Fourth Amendment rights to all members of society.
Robert Gehrke
Crest Hill
