Posner believes that it is a mistake balancing liberty and security, and that according to previous national threats we should learn from them and improve our nation's security and abridge our civil liberties when times of crisis occur due to criminal activities. "It is because officials have repeatedly and disastrously underestimated these dangers that our history is violent as it is," Posner stated. Posner uses the examples of history such as, what led to the Civil War, Japanese attack on the US that led to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, installation of Soviet missiles in Cuba, political assassinations, and the events of September 11 to emphasize that we underestimated the majority of these dangers and life-altering events. Posner reiterates throughout the essay that the basic mistake is prioritizing liberties instead of national security, and a way we could increase national security is at our liberties' expense. Posner feels that the safer a nation is the more leeway on liberties judges will give to citizens and the greater the threat there is to the nation's security the greater the cost for some liberties.
I do not agree with what Posner proposes for a slight increase on the nation's security. In other words Posner is trying to say that freedom and some of our liberties is a privilege not a right, when it is the other way around and set in stone. I believe that the government to some extent does have a lot of hindsight on particular tragedies and events, however citizens should not be the ones to suffer and have their rights limited when they are not doing their jobs correctly. Posner does bring some good points on how the government should be a little more aware and execute appropriate actions when things have gone awry. Citizens shouldn't have to give up their liberties, because of some concern of national security. Usually the perpetrators do not go very far and are caught quite easily, why not continue with this same system.
Marcella I agree with you that our liberties are not privileges but rights and that the government shouldn’t take away our privileges for national security. However, if the country is in extreme danger and the government can do something to stop us from being harmed; at the expense of our liberty I am almost positive that the majority would agree that out life is more important than out liberty. So I would say that our liberty should stay a right but to an extent. Either way the government should always look for the best interest of the citizens.
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