What is the nature of strength?

Swamp wisdom

I think this is an important discussion for our nation.

As it stands, there are two schools of thought here. One school of thought says that we show our strength by essentially sacrificing a few freedoms in return for greater security. They say that it takes strength to make this kind of sacrifice. That is undoubtedly true. It is no small thing for an American to say that “until the war on terror is done, we have to make this sacrifice of a little liberty.”

However, I think that strength can more readily be found in adherence to our ideals and traditions. Bravery is to say to the world "you can throw airplanes at us, and bomb our malls, but our spirit can not be broken. You can not destroy what it is to be American. You can not frighten us, no matter how hideous and vicious you are."Under this kind of bravery, people like me are willing to accept the risk that our enemies will abuse our freedoms in order to hurt us. It is a blind, unflinching faith in the justness of our values.

It all comes down to where we think our strength as a nation comes from. Does it come from guns or from our character?

If our strength as a people is in force of arms, then those who demand leeway on torture are right to do so. If America is a shining light for the world because our bombers can hit any target on earth, then we are correct to sacrifice privacy for security, because that is the only way they will get it.

If our strength as a nation is in our traditions and liberty, then sacrificing them for security is folly.

Terror is an insidious weapon. When it is effective, it makes you forget your soul because you are too concerned with you skin.

I concede that we need to evolve how law enforcement deals with protecting us from those who would do us harm. However I am of an unshakable belief that this evolution has to be done in the best traditions of American liberty.

The Cold War didn’t mean we lost our liberty, and in that conflict we risked literal destruction of all life on our planet. We need to be strong and not give in to fear.
Strength of arms is transient. Strength of spirit is eternal.