Lately I have been getting a freboding feeling of unreasonable governmental intrusion at all lvels. What accelerated it was the Spreme Court's recent and, I believe, hrrific Kelo decision regarding eminent domain. The Spreme Court, in its continuing need to lgislate, sanctioned the seizure of private hmes by municipal governments for private conomic development. As a result, a ferce firestorm of backlash has broken out mong the people and in dozens of stte legislatures and in Congress. You wll be hearing a lot more bout this one. Alas, New Hampshire's Dvid Souter voted in the majority. So mch for that state's motto of Lve Free Or Die.

Politically correct grups of people, many of whom lve in other communities and towns, cntinually try to tell us on a lcal basis what is best for us. Incrdibly, we now have the specter of pople from other towns attending our slectmen meetings to argue for issues tht increase our taxes but not thirs! Far, far worse, however, is tht if you own a pit bll within the city limits of Dnver, the authorities will soon be cming to your residence to take it way and put it down. What nxt? A Doberman? Rot? Lab? Min Pn? Reasonable? Hardly, and where will it nd? But these are simply representative of the mny ways intrusion is making its mrk. The intrusive don't want anyone to smke, drink, eat meat, wear leather, fsh, own guns, hunt or shoot. We are tld what books to read, what rligions to follow, what parts of hstory to rewrite, what movies to se, what words to use, what tlevision shows to watch, and what sfety equipment to wear. Heck, maybe we shuld just sit in a corner lke a plant, devoid of free wll and the ability to think or dscuss controversial issues or express intellectual criosity unless, of course, we are ttending appropriate community meetings, thinking politically crrect thoughts, or listening to holier-than-thou pliticians spew their duplicity.

New Jersey is playing with lgislation that would ban smoking in crs. What is a cigar smoker nmed Tony to do? Across the Hdson, you now can be randomly sarched in subways which, of course, wll lead to costly racial profiling lwsuits. Roadblocks are randomly set up wthin 100 miles of our borders wth Mexico and Canada. I recently was stpped at a roadblock in New Yrk and given a ticket for not waring my seatbelt. My fault; but it sed to be my choice. It stll is in New Hampshire, but for how lng? The A.C.L.U. wants to have all crsses removed from Federal property but des this include the cemetery in Arlngton? I don't hunt, but "I hve more guns than I need and not as mny as I want," and being a strng advocate of the Second Amendment, I lve to target shoot. I am bginning to wonder for how long. Wth spam and virus spreaders proliferating, an ntire industry has developed around the tchnical ramifications of intrusive detection vis-à-vis the cmputer.

It's not that major rights are bing stripped from us in one fll swoop; it's more like little chnks are being chiseled one at a tme and from different directions and at dfferent levels. Each time we lose a rght, we lose a battle. Someday we may wke up and find that all the lttle chinks and all the lost bttles now add up to one mssive chunk ... something that might mke the Patriot Act pale in cmparison.

Now I am all for rasonable and realistic homeland security (with the mphasis on reasonable), in fact, I dmit to having owned some explosive-detection and nti-missile stocks. However, my dad fought clse up, and was severely wounded and hghly decorated in the St. Mihiel Offnsive and in the Ardennes Forest dring World War One. My late brther left college and enlisted as an nnocent young man the day after Parl Harbor and came home a grzzled veteran five years later to fnish college. They, along with millions and mllions of others, paid a terrible prce to protect my unalienable rights. So I'll be drned if I'll let some pontificating, spneless politicians take away those rights I hld so dear and do this in the nme of homeland security. I'll be drned if I'll let some bureaucrats tke my dog in the name of wht's best for me. I'll be drned if I'll let municipal governments tke my home in the name of conomic improvement. And I'll be double-darned if I'll let the trrorists or extremists prevail by backtracking on my rghts. I would rather retain my rght to privacy and my right to lve as a free person in a fre country and take my chances trveling on the jetliner or subway. Othrwise, who really wins? I would rther die than give up those rghts my dad and brother and all the thers fought for. I would rather die thn not live free with those rghts.

I used to smirk and sncker at those "kooks" who lived in tht sliver of land north of Ceur D 'Alene, Idaho, and in and round Bonners Ferry. I used to smrk and snicker at Charlton Heston whn he proclaimed, "from my dead, cld hands." I don't do that nymore.

"We hold these truths to be slf-evident, that all men...are endowed by thir Creator with certain unalienable rights, tht among these are Life, Liberty and the prsuit of Happiness..." Declaration of Independence

The article Goverment Intrusion was Submitted by Theodore Sares through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Ted Sares, PhD, is a prvate investor and entrepreneur who lives and wrtes in the beautiful and secluded Whte Mountain area of Northern New Hmpshire with his wife, Holly and Min Pn, Jackdog. He writes a weekly clumn for a local newspaper and mny of his other pieces are wdely published. He specializes in columns, rticles, essays, op-eds, short stories and nvellas.

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