The article about liberty and security provides information about personal security and freedom of speech. The main topic discussed in the paper presented by Haynes (2015) is phone recording. The USA Freedom Act sets an unpredicted future that might change quickly and sometimes carry negative consequences. The bill has split Republicans into several groups, and while one party aims to end the program, others pay attention to security and want to save this bill. Both groups have leaders who share the ideas of their followers and make official announcements. For example, Rand Paul, who was a past presidential candidate, wanted to split the bill. At the same time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell advised governmental authorities to remain the program and continue developing it. The founders of the program were sure that the corruption rate was high, and they tried to create a bill that would not allow the authorities to control each other. However, the system does not work when everyone has secreted which are not available for others. This topic is not new for discussion in America as, during every crisis, the citizens of this country were able to find balance.
In my opinion, it is important to analyze the personal experience which is presented in the article. The case about Edward Snowden’s aunt shows a common example of information leaks. Some people might argue that there is no need to make phone recordings of every person in the United States. However, I believe that it makes society more secure as individuals might be unpredictable in their actions. They may cause a lot of harm to the surroundings or even the government.
In the article about security and freedom, the main discussion is about the protection of American citizens. During the times of Mr. Bush on the presidential position, more attention was paid to security during a crisis. Freedom is closely related to the Bill of Rights, and throughout many years, some amendments were made. According to Kristof (2002), 49% of Americans believe that the First Amendment brought many unnecessary changes as the leaders of liberals who have old-fashioned thoughts are in charge. During times of national stress, governmental leaders are taking shortcuts, and citizens receive less freedom and security. When an unpredicted situation happens, legal authorities do not see age, sex, or social status. Consequently, more people are becoming at risk of losing freedom and the right to speak. The example of the case about Tiffany Hughes and her husband’s detention from Yemeni shows people how they can be convicted for their nationality. The situation presented how the representative of another nation was judged because of his passport even though he did not break the law. On the example of this occasion, freedom and security tend to lose their reliability.
Even though American citizens are not affected by national discrimination, they still should think about the government’s relationship with people of different nationalities. The actions produced by legal authorities break the universal human rights and create citizenship privileges. Even though the USA is considered one of the most democratic countries in the world, some previous leaders tried to limit freedom in secret from their people. These actions might happen because of the difficulty that appears while controlling people who can do almost everything they want. Some aspects of governmental regulation might be hidden, especially in prisons and the ties to dangerous criminals or those who are judged for the nationality. The relationship to those who are free may be different from the attitude to those who are sentenced.
References
Haynes, D. D. (2015). Liberty vs. security: An old debate renewed in the age of terror. Milwaukee Wisconsin journal sentinel.
Kristof, N. D. (2002). Security and freedom. New York Times, 151.