An Argument On It's Own Merits

A ramble:

A Conservative website in California is attempting to coerce students into taping their professor's lectures and provide them to the organization for $100.00 a pop. Why? Because this organization has a hit list of the top "liberal activists" who teach at the university. On this website is not only the content of professor's lectures but notations of their political activities as well as other assorted information.

Why is this alarming?

Those who find no fault with this practice have asked what the professors have to hide? Why are they afraid to have their words face public scrutiny?

Sounds like a familiar argument.

Such as: Why worry about the NSA spying on you? Only the terrorists have something to hide. Or: Why worry about Yahoo and msn turning over your search information? If you're not a "bad guy" you have nothing to worry about.

This is a deceptive and false argument.

Privacy was not guaranteed to us only after we pass a test of worth. It is inherent and a part of the security of our home.

When the patriot act was first passed there were a few voices that called out warnings that abuses would come and that rights would be infringed. Those voices were shouted down with cries of patriotism and Godliness. But the first step across the boundary of constitutional infringement and civil rights makes the next step easier. Where does it end?

The loss of freedom rarely comes with rapid movement. It is insidious. It comes in small steps that push the boundaries slowly outwards so that what we accept is more easily altered with each infringement.

Our voices need to be raised. We need to remind the politicians that would warp our government into a new regime that the loss of any rights is an aberration.

The attempts to silence and intimidate need to end. If a position is worthwhile, if it has merit, then allow it to stand or fall on it's own substance. If it can not stand up the scrutiny of honorable men and women then it does not need to be placed as public policy. Any decision made by the government that can not be brought into the light and looked at thoroughly should not be maintained.

The pressure from political factions that label dissention as Un-American or Un-Godly should end before the very fabric of our republic is ripped apart.