On 22 Jul 2005 12:06:03 GMT, "Ian Johnston"
wrote:

: 2. He who gives up liberty to gain security deserves neither liberty
: nor security[2].

I've never believed that. Does it mean that, because I have to use a
PIN to get money from a hole in the wall, I deserve to have my account
cleaned out?

No, of course it doesn't. How does using a PIN infringe on your civil
liberties?

It isn't an absolute statement, anyway. The point is that I would
prefer to live in a society where unpleasant things happen
occasionally, and where if/when caught the perpetrators of said
unpleasant things are punished suitably[1], than in a police state.

(Similarly, I applaud the 15-year-old who overturned a curfew order
recently. Punish those who do cause trouble, and do it harshly, but
do not impinge on the freedoms of the innocent. I do not believe in
collective responsibility of that type).

[1] Difficult with suicide bombers, of course. That said, the
security measures some people are suggesting might stop people being
blown up in Tube trains. It won't stop them being blown up while
waiting in a queue for security outside a busy Tube station, for
example, and it won't stop a suicide van bomb in the middle of Oxford
Street on a Saturday afternoon. If one avenue is closed to the
terrorists, they'll simply find another.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
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