Bush seeks to extend the spying law. The House, however, doesn't like it and protested with a walkout on Thursday. This is the news brought to me by msn today. Bush keeps up his fear rhetoric reminding everyone who listens that we are still in trouble, still in danger, that we must give up our civil liberties so that the government can "do it's job." Well what about the job to protect our freedom? Is that job best accomplished by revoking said freedom?

I am angered by the rhetoric of the Bush administration--have been since it began. I am also angered by the rhetoric surrounding our troops. A blind trust rhetoric that labels you a "troop-hater" if you don't support the war and reminds everyone not fighting in Iraq that we've never done anything for freedom. Let me tell you what I'm willing to do for freedom. I'm willing to die for what this country is supposed to be. I'm willing to die to make sure it doesn't turn into what it shouldn't be. I would rather keep my freedom and see the ideals of America maintained than be kept "safe" and watch America turn into the very thing it rebelled against during its inception.

If everyone in this country were willing to do that, willing to accept the risk of possible terrorist attacks and not willing to give up civil liberties for the appearances of safety, and they are appearances, then we would all, as a country, be fighting for freedom. I don't say this as a troop-hater, though I am against the war. Many of my good friends have been over to Iraq, some more than once. I will do whatever it takes to best support them. But I think right now, what can best support them, is making sure that the country they are fighting for is still here when they get back.

No one ever stops to think about that. No one ever stops to think about whether the American Dream is still viable or pursuable. No one ever stops to think about what our country should be, what it was meant to be, or what it means to be American. We listen to the news; we listen to each other. My students label those protesting the government "Anti-American" and claim we are better off with the Patriot Act. We still have more civil liberties than other countries, they say, so what's the big deal in giving up a few? "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" the Statue of Liberty says; "Give me liberty or give me death," said Patrick Henry. Are these things not part of the American Dream as well? The dream of acceptance, advancement, freedom?

It seems we care only about money anymore, as a people. The ability to earn it and the ability to spend it. If I were a sociologist or economist I would hazard a guess that it has something to do with the recession these past eight years. The gap between the economic classes is growing, and I don't ever remember a time in history when that resulted in a good thing. But what happens when nothing is more sacred than the dollar? Republicans (specifically conservative ones) love to discuss how we are taking God out of the country and ruining our ideals, but what about our increasing dependence on money? And I don't mean to imply that things haven't always run by money here and everywhere else in the world, but we've had amazing moments surpassing it. The monopoly laws in response to the Railroad Barons, for one. But now the people who are supposed to enforce those laws have a stake in the monopoly. And so I ask you the same question I ask my kids--what do you do when laws go bad? Do you follow them because they're the law? Do you duck and hope they go away? Do you scream at the wall, hoping it will come down? Do you accept the inevitable and just hope it will all leave you alone?

I don't have any answers for you besides my own, which is that I will not stand by idly while my government makes a mockery of my civil liberties. I will not bow down to their authority to keep me "safe" for "my own good" from a threat they will never be able to completely protect us from. Terrorists are willing to die to accomplish their goal; no matter where you are or how good your security there are any number of places people congregate where you can kill a lot at once. There is no way to stop this unless you specifically enforce how/when/where people interact in public. And if we are willing to give up anything, are we willing to allow this? People no longer have a right to a speedy trial, or any trial. People are being tortured. People are being taken without knowing why and held without any recourse. Is this the government we are proud of? Is this the country we want to live in? We say that as long as it's not me it doesn't matter, but I ask you why. Because you'll never do anything that will put you in that position? What do you do when there is a misunderstanding? What do you do when they take you, or your friend, or your family member away because of a misspoke word? Who do you go to? How do you fix it?

You can't. That's why checks and balances were in place. That's why we valued freedom over safety. If you want to be free you must be free. There is no half-way on this. They say we shouldn't live our lives in fear even as they warn us to be afraid of another attack. They say we shouldn't change our way of life even as they change the laws around us. They say we should fight for freedom even as our interests seem purely monetary and personal.

You have to decide. Are you willing to die for what you believe in? And why not? What values do you hold that are not so important as to be worthy dying for? And if you aren't willing to die for them, why are you willing to send troops to fight for them? Is what you believe in as noble as you think it is, or is it just what everyone else believes in too?