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Old May 29th 09, 01:08 AM posted to rec.aviation.owning
Dan D[_2_]
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Posts: 44
Default Freedom to travel...

Isn't it nice to be able to drive anywhere you want to, whenever you want to? Isn't this one of the freedoms we have
come to expect here in the USA? Sure, you need to be responsible, have enough gas in the tank, possess a license, and be
physically able. But you can do it without the government watching to see who you are carrying, where you are going, and
when you are planning to be there. But if the rules being imposed on aviation in the United States take their full
course, folks with boats wanting to go out and play on the river and folks wanting to go somewhere in their cars will
have something entirely new to deal with - restrictions on their freedom to travel.

Yes, as it stands right now regulations are in place that will severely limit the ability of United States citizens to
travel freely around the country by personal aircraft. Efforts to enforce identification requirements are being imposed
on airfields, passenger manifests are being scrutinized, and entire blocks of airspace are being deemed off limits to
these special citizens. Is this the way we want to live in the USA? Did our forefathers die for these restrictions on
our freedom? I don't think so.

The entire premise for these restrictions is flawed. Sure, hijackers stole aircraft and murdered thousands of Americans
on that fateful day in September 2001. Does that mean we should all cower behind a plethora of ineffective regulations?
We have had laws for a long time against hijacking, carrying a weapon onboard an aircraft, and speeding down the highway
for that matter. Did those rules stop these events from happening? No. The only way these sort of events are stopped is
through pressure from our fellow citizens paying attention and standing up for their freedom. Personal safety results
from personal responsibility. Public safety results from public responsibility. Good police work and communications beat
broad stroke searches and restrictions every time.

The hijackers from 9/11 were known to the US government and their methods were already understood; it was the failure of
our public institutions to act that enabled these criminals to act. Imposing blanket restrictions on the citizens of the
USA does not solve the basic bureaucratic problems that exist in our government, nor does it add any safety to our
citizens. Each of us needs to take responsibility for our own actions and act to protect ourselves and our freedoms. We
must not shirk these responsibilities. When we allow our freedoms to be compromised in the name of 'safety,' then we
will have lost some of the inalienable rights that this country is based on. Homeland Security has a sour sound to it
that does not express my desire for a free United States of America. Freedom has a cost and sometimes that cost will be
in human lives. We must not let the sacrifices of those that have gone before us be for nothing.

Please join me in speaking out against the unnecessary restrictions to American freedoms that are slowly being imposed
on the citizens of the USA.