Should the U.S. give up civil liberties for security?

Bravo.

I don't believe Ben Franklin meant the same kind of security we are worried about today (That is if that really was his quote). And "Civil Liberties" does not mean the same thing as "Liberty" anyway."Liberty" means "Freedom". "Civil Liberties" means the protected personal liberties and rights we enjoy.

Security for us now would be National security, but if Ben Franklin had ever said that he would have meant "Personal comforts and complacency in our own lifestyle" and the "freedom" he would have been talking about would have been the freedoms in our constitution.

Your question makes it sound like we are giving up ALL civil liberties. Don't be taken in by the ACLU!!! We are not. We are not really giving up any. If you look closely at the Patriot Act, for instance, there still exists the same degree of restraint on the Govt. The only thing that has changed is the methodology when there is a question of national security. I TRUST YOU HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THAT!?! Also, you have completely misread Franklin's quote. What he was talking about was people who give up (all) liberty (permanently) for political and economic security. That, we are not doing!!

Watch out or the dud or sir az might call you a communist lib for believing in civil liberty.

no way in hell !

I believe that it was Ben Franklin that said something along the lines of "if they are willing to give up liberties for security then they deserve neither. " i might be wrong ,but to me that makes sense .

it all comes down to this-----i guess it really depends on the "civil" liberties in question and by who's definition civil is;

but if you have nothing to hide your liberties won't be affected.

Actually, I don't know why you got two thumbs down on this question thus far. I think this is a very important question indeed. Particularly with current affairs in the world and homeland security becoming such an issue.

I stand by the Constitution of the United States of America and firmly believe that NO terrorist organization has the power to dissolve our Constitution or dilute its solidity.

What does that mean? That means to me the FBI, CIA, NSA and any other organization designed to protect our country has to make it their top priority to protect the Constitution of the United States and work twice as hard as any other country would to catch the terroist even if that means they have to wake up a Judge in the middle of the night to get a warrant to tap a phone line.

It is crucial that we protect the rights of our U.S. citizens during this time of internal war called terrorism. If we strip our citizens of their rights as Americans in order to fight terrorism, then we have surely lost the war on terror.

Good Luck and Take Care

No. And in all probability, it is uttelry unnecessary. It will be a sad day if the citizens of the U.S. loose their civil rights.

Not At All! Freedoms value is much higher than any other thing in this World!

OK, go ahead Einstein, and what civil liberty have you given up for security? Men in little trench coats following you around? I thought not!

I think that the entire concept of government is one never-ending struggle between the bourgeoisie and those exploited by them. We need to have a society where robots do all of our work for us and we just enjoy all that life has to offer.