Security Vs. Freedom

3 Pages 837 Words

What Are You Willing to Lose?

In a blink of an eye, a piece of America’s heart came tumbling to the ground on September 11. Before we knew why and how, two symbols of our great nation and thousands of lives were gone. As we begin to rebuild and recover, we must decide what is more important to us as a country, security or freedom? House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-MO) has already conceded, "We're not going to have all the openness and freedom we have had." Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) takes an even harder line, saying, "When you're at war, civil liberties are treated differently."(Pena)
At the same time you hear people calling to keep their freedoms, they are asking for more security. What kind of securities are they looking for? Airports are definitely at the top of the list, since the attacks on September 11 did occur as a result of poor security at airports. The federal government proposes to step in and take over as airport security all over the country. They want to give the security guards the right to search everyone that goes into, and possibly out of, the airport. They also want to include an armed federal marshal on most commercial flights. They have already called up 50,000 National Guard soldiers for – among other things – “air and ground security, port security, and civil affairs.”(Pena) This will hopefully deter any more attacks on the nation’s airplanes or airports. Measures such as these make our free country look like a police state.
Since the attacks people have been on heightened alert about other terrorist attacks such as chemical or biological attacks. These include the setting off nerve gasses such as VX or sarin and the threat of unleashing diseases such as small pox or anthrax. To prevent attacks the government has temporarily suspended the use of crop dusters and is asking many pharmaceutical companies to manufacture more antidotes and vaccines for various ...