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Posted on 10/01/2001 12:49:21 PM PDT by sheltonmac

Fight yes, number no

By Joseph Farah

It was predictable that, with the advent of the devastating terror attack on America, there would be moves by Washington to encroach on our unalienable rights.

I know this is war, so to speak (even though it hasn't been declared – which is more than a technicality), but Americans must not yield to the temptation in this crisis to give the federal government everything it demands without question.

The proposal to rush forward with a national identification number is one such proposal that should be rejected out of hand, unequivocally, without a second thought.

Perhaps we need some reminders why:

• The federal government has, in fact, utilized with reckless abandon a numbering system for all Americans. It's called the Social Security number. It wasn't designed to be a form of national ID, but it has certainly evolved into one. Despite that numbering system, the federal government with all of its vast resources, intelligence agencies, police forces, databases, eavesdropping capabilities and enforcement capacity, still allowed four airliners to be hijacked and crashed Sept. 11 – three of them into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Does anyone really believe that a better numbering system would have prevented such a disaster?

• This is the same federal government that has abdicated its legitimate authority to police our borders to ensure that, among other things, terrorists don't walk or drive into our country undetected.

• This is the same federal government that ignored, or failed to heed, countless warnings about a major terrorist action planned for the general time frame of the Sept. 11 attacks.

• This is the same federal government that covered up – yes, deliberately covered up – strong evidence of previous terrorist involvement in the Oklahoma City federal building bombing and the downing of TWA Flight 800.

• This is the same federal government that is ignoring the history of terrorist activity of many international groups and individuals committed prior to Sept. 11 in its attempt to build a broad coalition against the perpetrators of the latest attack.

• This is the same federal government that has failed to build a missile-defense system for the last 15 years – another legitimate step in protecting the lives of citizens from a future foreign attack some believe is as inevitable as the attacks on the World Trade Center.

• This is the same federal government that sent many millions of dollars to the Afghan Taliban regime a month before the attacks.

• This is the same federal government that sends aid to Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority – a group with the longest track record of international terrorist acts and one that is directly implicated in the murders of U.S. diplomats and other Americans.

• This is the same federal government that has failed to require sensible security measures on airliners – such as locked cabin doors, armed crews and sky marshals.

• This is the same federal government that urges allies, such as Israel, to repatriate terrorists, negotiate with them, sign meaningless peace pacts with them and compromise their security in efforts to improve relations with their sponsors.

• This is the same federal government that has systematically disarmed the American people and now preaches about the need for "homeland security." The best form of homeland security is an armed and vigilant populace. Always has been, always will be.

• This is the same federal government that has spread its weakened military forces thinly throughout the world in an endless array of never-ending peace-keeping engagements and left the homeland undefended.

When Washington reviews and corrects some of its missteps of the past, then it might have a case to come to the American people for more authority, more power, more self-sacrifice.

Let's be realistic. The government is not very good at protecting us and our rights. It has an abysmal track record. The government does very little well and efficiently. One thing it can do, through military force, is to wreak havoc on enemies. That's where I am all for the federal government mobilizing maximum force and resources against the terrorists and their sponsors.

You'll find me waving the flag, paying my taxes eagerly and praising our elected leaders when those responsible for attacking Americans are dead, destroyed, vaporized, kaput. But, please, don't ask me to get behind the building of a police state in America. It won't work. It won't deter terrorism. It is counterproductive. It is wrong. It is immoral. It is unconstitutional.

Let's bring the war to the enemy – not victimize the American people, again, for what could accurately be characterized as a failure of government to perform its most vital mission: protecting its citizens.

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