Van's Hardware Journal

As odious as it might sound to our forefathers, there will be people in our country who attempt to use last Saturday’s horrific shooting in Tuscon, Arizona, to increase their power and further their political and personal ambitions.  They will use that tried and true lever to make Americans willing to allow their power grab: FEAR.

Do not be afraid of anything other than the attempts over the next few days by these charlatans in government, media, politics and elsewhere to make you willing to give up your rights and the rights of your children in exchange for safety.

Our country’s reaction to 9/11 and to much smaller threats like the “Underwear Bomber” should make it clear that our best interests do not coincide with our government’s ambition to grab more and more power at the costs of our freedoms and dignity.

There is a cost for our liberty and we must be willing to pay these costs from onslaughts like the Tuscon gunman and the more serious threats from our own government.

Over the next few days, stand up and say “HELL NO!” to those contemptible people who will fear monger over last Saturday’s tragedy in attempts to steal your freedoms so that they can gain more power.

A particularly nefarious effort is the creation of so-called Internet IDs.  While the current proposal is relatively benign,  it is an obvious, incremental step towards a National ID Card that the Federal Government attempted to foist upon the states after 9/11, but Americans rigorously rejected.  The Federal Government’s desired result is a Nation Identification Card that will be necessary to use the Internet or to pass through security screens at airports, train stations, shopping malls and, eventually, every other facet of life.  All of your activities will be logged into a centralized database for government and corporate mining.