To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 18:38:32 -0500 Subject: Andy Rooney: Least of our worries From: David M Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Matt, Andy Rooney's wooden-headed advocacy of a national ID card (or, incredibly, some kind of national ID tattoo) -- so that he'll have an easier time getting into ball games and getting through airport security -- is certainly ludicrous and offensive. Rooney opines before an audience of millions, but one must hope that not all of his listeners are guzzling beer and nodding and mumbling, "Yeah, that's right, implant a microchip in my arm." It's hard to know how to answer those who say it will be easy to institute safeguards in such a way that a national ID won't inaugurate a toboggan slide down the slippery slope into a police state. Each exponent of the national ID is farther down the slope than the one before. Rooney says the security personnel at airports can't tell the difference between a bomb and Band-Aid--but wants to give these same people access to all his private data and the job determining whether his actions and habits "fit the profile" of a terrorist or other deviant citizen. Yes, Andy Rooney, of course any national ID card would be attended by a national database to which it is linked. And of course that national database would grow and grow and grow in terms of the amount of information about all of us that is logged therein. And of course no terrorist cares whether he's flagged in the database AFTER he's completed his mission and killed himself. Think, Andy, think. But at least all the tried-and-true advocates of liberty can grasp the danger of universal surveillance and its empowerment of a police state rush to the defense of the rights and privacy of innocent people, right? At least we can count on the advocates of freedom, right? Right But FreeMatt's Alerts has already alerted us to the fact that we can't. In a recent column for Laissez Faire Books, I reprise that theme. See my discussion at: <http://www.laissezfairebooks.com/index.cfm?eid=411&aid=10384> It's Cathy Young and James Robbins and Bob Poole, all more or less known advocates of freedom now more or less caving on issues of personal freedom and security in the wake of 911. No doubt they're not alone. Young wants to give the feds a back door to our encrypted files. Robbins thinks his past opposition to a national ID has become "trivial." Poole, a co-founder of the Reason Foundation and one of the triumvirate who took over Reason Magazine a year after its birth in the late 60s, at least has not openly advocated a national ID card. But Poole does advocate a so-called "trusted traveler" card, to be imposed by the governmental regime of airport security, a card which would be a step on the road to national ID. If Poole recognizes the concern as legitimate, however, he doesn't bother to discuss it. Not in his November column, posted at the Reason Foundation web site; and not in his more recent op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. Well, enough's enough. Guys, you're fired. You are no longer leaders in any kind of movement proposing individual liberty. Pick up your severance checks and get out. And take your toboggan with you. David M. Brown ********************************************************************** David M. Brown * Writer and Editor * unreasonable rates Columnist for Laissez Faire Books <http://www.laissezfairebooks.com/index.cfm?aid=10384> ********************************************************************** ************************************************************************** Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues Send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the words subscribe FA on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week) Matthew Gaylor, (614) 313-5722 ICQ: 106212065 Archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fa/ **************************************************************************
