Eight Government Policies Limiting Your Freedom

Sometimes the loss of liberty comes in one swoop. But more often than not, it is stolen away from you in baby steps. That is what is happening in the United States. Below listed are 8 threats to your freedom. These are already creeping up on you as they become accepted in our society. Is this what you really want? Voters Beware!!!!

1) McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act: This is arguably the most un-American power play that incumbent politicians have ever foisted on the American public. It also shows that slapping the label "reform" on something doesn't mean that the reform is good. This hodge-podge of campaign spending regulations was sponsored by Russ Feingold, one of the most liberal Senators in Congress, and John McCain, who likes to think of himself as a conservative. Purportedly passed to limit large soft money contributions to political campaigns, it is more aptly labeled The Incumbent Protection Act. The net effect is to prevent you and me from pooling our money and buying a political campaign ad to support the candidate of our choice during a period of time 30 days before an election. The Federal Elections Commission has seriously considered requiring bloggers like myself to estimate the amount of electricity it costs me to run this blog, and declare it as a campaign contribution. While it limits the political activity of the little guys and the non-profits on both ends of the political spectrum like conservative Right to Life organizations and the liberal ACLU, the big money is still finding its way into campaigns at an unprecedented rate through loopholes that are now closed to you and me. It is because of this piece of legislation I will never support John McCain.

2) Surveillance Cameras: Yes, it is nice to feel safe. Yes, the government will only use the tapes if a crime is committed. But in England, these types of cameras are also being installed with a speaker system and a central observation post where people monitor the cameras 24/7. When they see something going on that is "wrong", they tell you over the speaker system to cease and desist. The BBC estimates that the average person living in England is photographed over 300 times each day. Translated, if you want to give your honey a kiss in the park...smile, Big Brother is watching. And it is getting worse with the installation of digital cameras using face recognition technology. It would be funny if it weren't so sad. It is coming here. Ask the people in Girard, Ohio.

3) Anti Smoking Legislation: I have to admit that it is nice, here in the great State of Ohio, to go into a bar or restaurant and not leave smelling of smoke. But for the most part, I was doing that before the do-gooders passed this "I know what is best for you" legislation. I don't smoke, and never have. But it is by my choice, not someone brow beating me over the head or swamping the the State of Ohio and local governments with a bevy of complaints. If the do-gooders can regulate this, they will come after your weight next, and what you eat after that, and what you drink after that.....It is a slippery slope. If it were up to me, I would lead a bunch of smokers into a bar, light up, and do the Gandhi civil disobedience thing. The only thing bad for my health are do-gooders.

4) Hate Crime Legislation: These are laws which attempt to govern how you think. They set up groups of people who are designated as protected classes. If you perpetrate a crime on someone in this class, you are charged not only for the committed crime, but also a hate crime violation. How do they know what is in someones mind? A group of whites killing a black will automatically trigger a hate crime investigation. I can assure you that if it were the other way around, not even a chance. Congress is now attempting to enact "hate speech" legislation. The goal is to make gays a protected class. If you say something "hateful" about gays, notwithstanding any other crime, you can be charged with a hate crime. And anyone will be able bring the complaint, not just the person to whom the comment was made. This piece of legislation is designed to be used against conservative Christian Evangelicals who preach against homosexuality from the pulpit, and the gay activists are salivating. Personally, I am a strong advocate of gay rights. But this type of legislation is not only dangerous, but scary.

5) Anti Racial Profiling Regulations: Let me put it this way, if I am looking for a possible terrorist who is a member of the Irish Republican Army, I am not going to stop Consuela Lopez from Mexico to see if she is him. Why then, when looking for Islamic terrorists, does my 80 something mother have to have her breasts felt up prior to boarding a plane, or my father, with two artificial knees, have to strip behind a curtain so he could board a plane? Common sense has gone out the window as our bags are searched and photographed. We are subject to xrays. We are subject to pat downs. We take our shoes off, while the Islamists the government is looking for are more likely than not, Arab. Not that we shouldn't be careful with everyone boarding a plane as nuts span all racial barriers. I, myself, the Italian that I am, can pass for an Arab, a Jew, a Greek, and/or Cuban....take your pick. I would expect to be stopped. But not two old people. Limited resources demand that we scrutinize those most likely to commit the possible terrorist act, otherwise, this is the government intruding in our lives one more time, playing long odds, and doomed to ultimate failure.

6) Drunk Driving Checkpoints: Much like the old Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, we can't go out to dinner on the weekend without having our cars searched and our physical person examined by the police. After a day of having our bad habits monitored, our luggage searched, our bodies patted down, our every motion surveyed, our ability to speak out against those who pass these affronts to our freedoms limited, we are stopped by cops on the street, and treated like criminals. Often times our journey's interruption will take in excess of 45 minutes. Of course, while we are being stopped, that Lindsay Lohan babe and Paris Hilton keep driving drunk and stoned.

7) The Fairness Doctrine: This doctrine required broadcasters to air all points of view on controversial issues with equal time. It has been around since the inception of radio, and upheld by the Supreme Court on the basis of limited public airways. It was monitored by the FCC, but as in all government regulation, the bureaucratic red tape effectively became unmanageable. The FCC, by unanimous vote, stopped enforcing it in 1987. Congress attempted to restore it, but it was vetoed by President Reagan. With Democrats in charge of both houses of Congress, it has reared its ugly head again as the liberals in Congress view it as a way to muzzle conservative talk radio. What they fail to realize, is that with pay radio, cable television, the Internet, and quantitative proof of political bias in the three major network's news shows, as well as on CNN and PBS and Fox News, the sole result from its revival would be a massive number of lawsuits from across the political spectrum. This is a bad idea. But leftists always attempt to silence the opposition. Just look at Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

8) Passports: I find it ironic that Americans are now required to carry passports to re-enter the country, even if they are returning from Canada and Mexico (albeit the Feds have finally realized that they couldn't process all of the passport applications and have had to make some adjustments). And while we are forced to spend a couple hundred bucks for the privilege of leaving and re-entering the country, the illegals continue to stream across the border, and Congress is trying to somehow allow these folks to stay. If I go to Mexico, maybe I should pretend to be an illegal alien coming back into the US so I don't have to spring for the passport. If anyone can explain the logic of this, please let me know.

All of the above are supposed to add to the quality of our lives, and our safety and security. How much of a price are you willing to pay? What would have been abhorrant 20 years ago is now accepted as the norm. What will things look like 20 years from now? In the 2008 election, remember the above when people start to whine about The Patriot Act. The true threat is freedom erosion creep from policies and laws such as those listed above.