Jun 13, 2002 2 min read

Listen, we understand as much as the next American that since Sept. 11 it’s far too easy to succumb to the uneasy feeling that we are perched upon a high wire without a safety net. We must gain the knowledge and the skills to balance on the narrow guide rather than trade the view for fluffy looking pillows that would fail to break our fall.

We mention this in light of a recent Gallup poll that indicates most American would trade freedom for security. Whether it’s allowing government agencies more power to snoop into private lives or require citizens to carry identification cards, each encroachment upon liberty will lead to the government craving more. When was the last time the government gave any power back to the people? And which freedoms should be sacrificed in the name of safety?

Yes, it is an uneasy time and one in which we are all keenly aware that safety from terrorists isn’t a Constitutional guarantee. But this is not the time to turn soft and allow fear to change hard-fought guarantees. Soon this country will celebrate the birthday of Independence Day with a renewed sense of patriotism. Imagine then the courage of those original patriots our who knew that war and the deaths it would bring to them and their families was imminent but necessary to earn the freedoms that we enjoy today.

And if it helps to boost your own courage tack these words of Benjamin Franklin on your refrigerator, bathroom mirror or computer screen. “Those that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”