TOM RIDGE DOESN'T GET IT...FROM DAY ONE
Take a good look at this quote. It's an excerpt from the speech Tom Ridge gave yesterday during his swearing-in ceremony as head of America's new Office of Homeland Security:
"Finally, as the President stated, we will continue to secure liberty, as we secure this nation. Liberty is the most precious gift we offer to our citizens. It's what the terrorists fear most, what they tried to destroy on September 11th. We will work to ensure that the essential liberty of the American people is protected, that terrorists will not take away our way of life."
What's wrong with this picture?
Let's look at that second sentence again. "Liberty is the most precious gift we offer to our citizens." Does that sound anything like what we've heard from the big-government statists in recent years? Bill Clinton comes to mind. Leftists in this country have been trying for decades to foster the mistaken belief that Americans receive their freedom from the government--when, in fact, the government exists to protect the freedoms that all Americans have from the minute they're born.
To say that the government gives citizens their freedom is to promote the very dangerous idea that those personal liberties can be taken away by a simple act of legislation or a presidential executive order. It doesn't work that way, no matter how hard Bill Clinton tried--and regardless of what Tom Ridge thinks.
If this is how Tom Ridge sees things, then hang on to your hats...we're in for a bumpy ride here in the Homeland.
Take a good look at this quote. It's an excerpt from the speech Tom Ridge gave yesterday during his swearing-in ceremony as head of America's new Office of Homeland Security:
"Finally, as the President stated, we will continue to secure liberty, as we secure this nation. Liberty is the most precious gift we offer to our citizens. It's what the terrorists fear most, what they tried to destroy on September 11th. We will work to ensure that the essential liberty of the American people is protected, that terrorists will not take away our way of life."
What's wrong with this picture?
Let's look at that second sentence again. "Liberty is the most precious gift we offer to our citizens." Does that sound anything like what we've heard from the big-government statists in recent years? Bill Clinton comes to mind. Leftists in this country have been trying for decades to foster the mistaken belief that Americans receive their freedom from the government--when, in fact, the government exists to protect the freedoms that all Americans have from the minute they're born.
To say that the government gives citizens their freedom is to promote the very dangerous idea that those personal liberties can be taken away by a simple act of legislation or a presidential executive order. It doesn't work that way, no matter how hard Bill Clinton tried--and regardless of what Tom Ridge thinks.
If this is how Tom Ridge sees things, then hang on to your hats...we're in for a bumpy ride here in the Homeland.
