Richard Cockrum – 5/25/06

This page was last updated on May 27, 2006.

Protecting our rights; Richard Cockrum; Beaver County Times; May 25, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“In response to Sunday’s letter to the editor from Donna Vickodil in which she asked ‘What are the complainers hiding?’:”

[RWC] I cringe every time I hear the “What are you hiding?” defense. It’s completely bogus. While Mr. Cockrum is correct in noting this, he runs off the tracks thereafter.

“This type of attitude is one of the reasons agencies like the National Security Agency get away with what they do.

“The issue isn’t what you are hiding. The issue is that the government has no place in your house or your life without evidence that a crime has been committed. Would it be OK for the government to track the address information on all the mail everyone sends and receives? Would it be OK for the government to track all the address information for where everyone goes each and every day? Is it OK for the government to track the addresses for all the e-mail sent and received each and every day?”

[RWC] While Mr. Cockrum throws up a bunch of hypothetical situations, he doesn’t tell us how he feels about real life situations that take place everyday.

What about highway sobriety checkpoints?

What about all the information the government collects as part of income, Medicare, and Socialist Security tax collection?

What about random audits of your income tax forms?

What about requiring ID to enter the U.S.?

What about having your luggage inspected before boarding an airplane?

What about being frisked before boarding an airplane?

The list goes on and on.

“This type of activity doesn’t make you any safer. It has a subtle chilling effect on your right to free association. All governments become more controlling over time. The information they gain in activities like this is how they do it.”

[RWC] I disagree that the disclosed activity doesn’t help make us safer. If terrorists abroad are communicating with accomplices in the U.S., shouldn’t we know about it? If there is a web of accomplices in the U.S., shouldn’t we know about it? If we have this information, shouldn’t it allow us to thwart terrorist attacks on both U.S. soil and abroad? Remember, this program was the direct result of what we learned about terrorist communication before 9/11.

“Right to free association?” Via various laws, free association is already limited. Lest we forget, we have laws on the books that govern who we can hire to fill jobs, who we must serve, and who must be allowed to join certain clubs.

“I love my country, and I love my freedom. The two are the left and right hands of preserving a democracy. This type of activity chops off one of the hands.”

[RWC] As most other letters on this topic, the author doesn’t even mention reason for the NSA terrorist surveillance program. This lets him play in “hypothetical land” and not address the specifics of this program and situation.

I agree with many of Mr. Cockrum’s points, but we can’t ignore the fact that terrorists have targeted the U.S. To date, the actions disclosed appear to me to be reasonable in time of war, and lawful.