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Adams to remember that "the liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men."(15)

Just because the attacks are not always blatantly visible, we should not let down our defenses. James Madison believed that "there are more instances of abridgment of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."(16) Our government has used this to good effect, as one "can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on".(17) The truth is that "the people never give up their liberties but under some delusion"(18) These delusions are the lies bought and sold to us by the corporate controlled media. We have been lulled into complacency.

What fools we were to believe that the oil families had our best interest in mind. In a congressional speech, George Bush blatantly declared that "We need an energy bill that encourages consumption."(19) Corporate monopolies and financial interests also control the media. Not to mention the Federal Reserve. After all, "when a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain"(20). Thanks to the war in Iraq, we now owe China over half a trillion dollars and growing.(21) Rare indeed is the politician brave enough to take on the illness at the very roots of our society in calling for the abolishment of the Federal Reserve, which is not Federal, not a bank, and not owned by the people.(22)

Aside from our dubious foreign conquests, "We cannot fight for freedom abroad by surrendering it at home."(23) This country was founded on the ideals of personal liberty and freedom from government interference and surveillance. How can we expect to further the cause of democracy by violating

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