In defense of civil liberties

Here's the problem with the Jack Bauer approach to public safety: the average citizen has to rely in the good faith of their government officials to protect their individual interests in safety. History has taught us that this faith is often misplaced. The only way to protect safety and freedom is to ensure equal protection to individuals. Any time you put unreserved power into the hands of government it has the potential to be misused against innocent parties.
The other issue with allowing the government to invade the privacy of individuals is that often times these invasions are not equally distributed throughout the population. Instead, racial or religious profiling is used to determine who's rights are worthy of protection and whose are not. This is in itself unjust and breeds racial tension and anger toward the government and society that allows this to happen.
I question whether or not the government really needs to invade our privacy to protect us. There are tons of other things that can be done to improve national security that require no government invasions: a tightening of the border, efficient and consistent airport security, a change in foreign policy, for examples--Why don't we start there instead of jumping to the conclusion that the only way to ensure greater safety is to violate our fundamental values.

The Fraulein