PROTECT FREEDOMS

It seems those in power seek to keep the nation in a perpetual state of
war, from the Cold War against communism to the failed "wars" on poverty,
crime, drugs and now the "war on terrorism," unlimited and without
definition of success or failure.

No one loves war more than government and the media. The media love
disaster and war because they seek attention and more revenue; government
because it gains support from the weak and fearful bureaucratic growth,
unlimited spending, ever-increasing power and greater secrecy of action.

The greatest and most dangerous threat to American freedoms may not be from
without the nation, but from within. As James Madison wrote: "There are
more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual
and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden
usurpation." In 1957, Gen. Douglas MacArthur added: "Our government has
kept us in a perpetual state of fear with the cry of grave national
emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some
monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not rally
behind the government."

Jim Parker

Upper Valley