by Cindy Thrasher

Created on: July 05, 2009   Last Updated: August 09, 2009

National security is obviously of utmost concern to everyone in this country in light of what is going on in the world today. The notion we were safe behind the imaginary walls of our borders was proven to be grossly misguided when, on September 11, 2001, the two towers of the World Trade Center dissolved into a massive cloud of dust and steely debris. Confidence in our defenses has been shaken as a result, and the natural reaction to that horrific event would be to tighten our laws and place restrictions on our freedoms in order to mitigate the risk of subsequent attacks. Therefore, it is more important than ever that we ask ourselves if national security is worth sacrificing our personal and civil freedoms.

The answer is no. Wiretapping, surveillance, imprisonment, searches and seizures are effective tools in fighting an enemy whose ability to disrupt and destroy is dependent upon retaining an element of secrecy, but to utilize these tools without due process would open doors to abuses that would ultimately erode all other civil liberties, such as free speech, the right to assemble, and the right to bear arms. Additionally, taking that course of action would weaken our society from within and accomplish that which the enemies of this nation so ardently desire: the obliteration of our culture.

Additionally, to cede the civil rights granted to us under the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights would be to dismiss what it has cost this country to obtain and protect those freedoms in the past, and call into question the necessity of sacrificing countless lives in the last two hundred years defending and preserving them. The argument could be made that the world is a much different place now than it was in the past, but ask any World War II veteran if what they fought against was any less threatening than what we are faced with now. We cannot devalue what they fought so hard to preserve.

The principles that foster our American Spirit are worth protecting. They are what secure this nation's leading role on the world stage, and what we hold on to during the most trying times in our nation's history. While it is vital that steps be taken to insure our well-being in the face of new terroristic threats, it is just as vital that safeguards be incorporated to insure the preservation of our civil liberties. Granted, that is a difficult task at best, but we cannot turn our backs on who and what we are. The rest of the world is watching, and we have an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate, in a most graphic way, the power of a free nation.

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