Ten years after 9/11, two-thirds of Americans still willing to give up more freedom to fight terrorism

Thursday, September 08, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: terrorism, freedom, health news

(NaturalNews) A new Associated Press (AP) poll shows that many Americans are still in the dark about the importance of protecting their freedom and liberty from being stolen by their own government. While roughly 66 percent of respondents indicated a willingness to give up a little more privacy and freedom to protect against terrorism, a shocking 46 percent said that if they had to choose one or the other, they would give up whatever rights and freedoms asked of them in order to "fight terrorism," rather than defend and protect their own civil liberties.

Poll results also revealed that, in the name of fighting terrorism, 71 percent of respondents support the use of public surveillance cameras to look for suspicious activity; 58 percent support random searches, naked body scans, and pat downs; 55 percent support unwarranted intrusion of financial transactions; 47 percent support requiring that every American carry a national ID card to show to government agents on demand; and 35 percent support racial profiling.

The findings are chilling, of course, as they illustrate the widespread ignorance among the populace of the tactics used by governments in the past to eliminate freedom, and assume totalitarian control over the people. Public surveillance programs, mandating that civilians show their papers on demand without probable cause or warrant, and secretly tracking civilians, for instance, were all methods used by the Nazis during World War II to incite fear, and ultimately to seize control.

And these are the exact same tactics being used today by the US government to trick Americans into surrendering their freedoms and liberties to fight terrorism. Apparently, as long as there is a frightening boogeyman, which in this case is radical Islam, there will always be people willing to sacrifice their freedom to gain a false sense of safety and security.

"It's like opening a crack in the door, and then the door is opened wide," said Keri Jean, a homemaker from Elk Ridge, Utah, concerning the slippery slope of sacrificing freedom to gain perceived security.

To view the full AP poll results, visit:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SE...