1984: Thread

[grarpamp]

http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2022/may/30/don-t-trade-real-liberty-for-phony-security/

Ron Paul: Don't Trade Real Liberty For Phony Security

Authoritarian politicians wasted no time using the recent shootings in
Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, to justify new infringements on
liberty. Just days after the Buffalo shooting, the US House of
Representatives passed a law creating new domestic terrorism offices
in the FBI, the Justice Department, and the Department of Homeland
Security.

This is a step toward achieving the longstanding goal of many
progressives of focusing the national security state on “domestic
terrorists” and “right-wing extremists.” Supporters of these efforts
have used the Buffalo shooter’s mention of “replacement theory” in his
“manifesto” to attack prominent conservative commentators, most
notably Tucker Carlson. Carlson and others are accused of spreading
the replacement conspiracy theory because they have pointed out that
the Left has for years celebrated the coming “replacement” of the
white majority population. The goal is to stigmatize, intimidate, and
even criminalize those expressing views or facts that contradict the
cultural Marxists or the Democrat party establishment.

Painting the Buffalo shooter as a conservative requires ignoring his
self-description as an environmental-fascist and his disdain for “Fox
News conservatism.” The mainstream media also ignores the shooter’s
use of the same neo-Nazi symbol used by the Ukrainian Azov brigade.
This may be because they do not want the American people to realize
their tax dollars are supporting actual Nazis in Ukraine.

The push to use the police state against “right-wing extremists” is
supported by many progressives who (correctly) oppose the national
security state’s civil liberties abuses of Muslim and other
minorities. Conversely, many conservatives who have defended all
infringements on liberty done in the name of the “global war on
terror,” (correctly) oppose federal crackdown on “right wing
extremists.”

Both sides fail to realize that a violation of any individual’s
liberty is a threat to everyone’s liberty.

The massacre of 19 school children and two teachers in Uvalde Texas
was followed by calls for expanded gun controls from President Biden
and other prominent politicians. Among the proposals floated are a
renewed push for federal Red Flag laws. Red Flag laws allow law
enforcement to take someone’s guns without due process based on a mere
allegation that an individual poses a risk of violent behavior.
Despite being unconstitutional, easily abused, and ineffective at
stopping violent crime, Red Flag laws enjoy broad bipartisan support.
For example, former President Donald Trump endorsed a policy of “take
the gun first, worry about due process later.”

If Congress was serious about protecting liberty and security, they
would pass Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie’s legislation
repealing the “Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990.” This poorly worded
law leaves children defenseless against mass shooters who are not
dissuaded from their evil intentions by “Gun-Free Zone” signs. Video
showing the Uvalde police not only standing around outside the school,
but tasering parents who were trying to protect their children
reinforces the importance of allowing school personnel to protect
themselves and their students by carrying firearms.

Expanding the police state to “monitor” right-wing extremism and
giving the government new powers to deny law-abiding individuals
access to firearms make us less safe and less free. Instead of
allowing politicians to use mass shootings as an excuse to further
expand their powers, we must insist they repeal all federal laws that
trade real liberty for phony security starting with the USA FREEDOM
Acts (previously known as the USA PATRIOT Act) and the so-called Safe
and Gun Free Schools Act.