To be Free and Secure

Yesterday I said that I would not trade my civil liberties in return for the promise of security. This was in answer to the question of how to deal with the radicalism found in small pockets of the immigrant community. I then faced the counter question, “ how were my civil liberties being abridged” . I was caught , my interlocutor asked the question that I must answer with “they aren’t but…” Well twitter is the world in 140 characters or less and no room for detail. So I figured I would make a longer reply on the blog nobody reads.
My civil liberties are not in direct danger. I live in Canada , a country founded on the rule of law, a population secure in their rights and knowledgeable in their defence. I am not saying it couldn’t happen, just that the road is a long one till you get to the cliff edge. I have always picture the loss of liberty as gradual, not the slippery slope, but a see saw. Where all is all one way till it isn’t anymore. The shift is not the ball rolling down hill in a continuous predictable way allowing most to become accustom to a new normal, but instead is the quick and sudden shift that changes everything.
To address the question first raised how to deal with increased threat of radicals in our midst? The answer is increased security, passive and active surveillance. Laws change by bits and pieces to enable better monitoring ,arrest and detainment of suspected radicals. If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear. But changes in one area of our society bleed over into other parts. Power created is power used. These are not platitudes or fear mongering. I never thought I would see the day when a President of the United States would shift the line between torture and interrogation, done for the security of the nation. Warrant less wire-tapping another shift to a new normal.
No the rights of average Americans, those with no contact with radicals are unaffected. But for how long? How will the nature of national security be interpreted a decade from now? What will define radical? We are a Liberal Democratic nation and it was a hard fought century long battle. Every right we now possess was taken from some authority that held it from us. Taken gradually, acknowledging that a time had come, or by force against a grasping power.
The point I failed to make then was that , the eroding of rights however justified at the time should not be lightly taken or be open ended. Lowering the standard on searches and surveillance. Restricting movement or access to information and public spaces. The reduction in free speech that many Conservatives and Liberals alike decry . Freedom of association or religious belief.
No I do not live in fear of a Jack Booted Police, bent on my enslavement. But I do know that such places have existed and exist now. For people to be free they need both security and liberty. If we tend to much to one or the other we risk losing the Canada we know and love.