A friend and someone I respect said to me today, “The U.S. Government doesn’t have to justify its actions to you.”
The hell it doesn’t.
I am so disturbed by the widespread attitude of unquestioning obedience that so many around me have slipped into since this crisis began. (“Crisis,” not “war.”) I thought my Bill O’Reilly quote from a few days ago was scary enough coming from him, and now I hear words like it everywhere. Everywhere. And it scares me. I know that a lot of it is just an understandable defense mechanism – “They know best and if they’re taking care of it, I don’t have to think about it. And thinking about it is just too disturbing now.” But that doesn’t excuse it. We started this nation so we could make our own decisions. Let’s not forget that.
Amen. The US government is comprised of elected representatives, so yes, they are accountable to the citizens. Plus, the US government has a history of abusing any extra powers it has been given. Citizens should not only expect explanations, they should be skeptical of any government action. If it checks out, great. If not, we all suffer, and by ALL I mean everyone in the big fat world.
If we didn’t question the government we’d all be paying taxes to Queen Elizabeth (us Americans at least). Questioning authority is what our country is built on.
well, its a bit more complicated than WHETHER the gov’t must explain itself to its citizens. But yes, it’s pretty scarey that there are people who think the gov’t needn’t explain itself, period. The question, and much of the arguments, are over how, and when. I hope most/all of us would agree that there is a time and place for some secrecy (i.e. don’t announce you are about to capture a suspect ahead of time, you go do it!) But recently we have given away some of our protections against abuse – i.e. the judicial branch being involved as a check – search warrants, which are fairly easy to get, and need a minimal of rational explanation, serve that function to some degree. Searching homes and NEVER disclosing the search to the “suspect” is really really scarey – I don’t want my government doing that!! You don’t have to be paranoid, or of a different political party, or to even believe our gov’t officials are mean or bad guys, but MISTAKES DO HAPPEN, no matter how well-intentioned, and that’s why we need checks on our gov’t, and we should never be so “trustful” (i.e. lazy) as to give up critical thinking, ESPECIALLY at a time like this, when MISTAKES can cost lives, not “merely” our liberty.