Back home, expatriate finds U.S. mired in fear

[struggle4progress]

By Michael Dorgan

<snip> The United States was born from a will to be free, and its freedom has been guaranteed by bravery, often at great cost. It's no accident that the phrase ``the land of the free and the home of the brave'' is enshrined in our national anthem. Yet America feels less free and less brave to me than it did before. <snip>

Already some Americans have been stripped of their most basic rights because of unproven suspicions they aided terrorists. I wondered how many others would end up on the wrong side of the Patriot Act and other security legislation if there is another attack. <snip>

Others express fears less concrete but no less deeply felt. There is a broad unease about the future -- about the abyss that has opened between the haves and have-nots, about the hollowing out of America's economy, about the rapid erosion of America's influence and standing in the world. <snip>

The impression of America one gets from surfing the 100-plus television channels that have sprung up in recent years is that of a splintered culture of self-absorbed fragments. Many programs give audiences nothing more than a vicarious buzz from sex and violence. Others just sell stuff, be it sharp knives or tacky jewelry. Few programs aim to deepen, on any level, viewers' understanding of the world they live in. <snip>

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/editorial/11005900.htm?1c

[Eric J in MN]

1. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) often cites that phrase

"land of the free and the home of the brave" to say that freedom and bravery go together and we shouldn't surrender our civil liberties.