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Brilliantly done piece. Anyone who thinks this is never going to happen is going to find out the hard way very soon.
Very thought provoking, but as a confirmed libertarian I say that we can’t and shouldn’t confuse the VOLUNTARY collection and use of personal information with “Big Brother”.
* There is NO “HUMAN RIGHT” that I know of that says a third party should lend you money to make commercial trasactions easier. In other words, if you don’t like the information collected and used for credit transactions, PAY CASH! (or check, or money order). Will you not be able to get something delivered overnight, while the company waits for the check to clear? Yes, but I never heard of the human right to next day delivery.
* There is NO “HUMAN RIGHT” that says people should pay the same for insurance regardless of their lifestyle DECISIONS. Smokers pay more for health insurance, bad drivers pay more for auto insurance, and correspondingly, bad eaters should pay more for their insurance. (And no, I don’t think genetic testing for illness tendencies should “count” towards insurance rates. Let everyone start out equal under the law and let their CHOICES dictate consequences like paying extra for the “big meat” pizza.
* There is no human right to have others prepare food for you for money. You pizza place wants to charge more because you live in a dangerous neighborhood. Fine with me. Make your own damn pizza if you don’t want to pay.
Yes, I am alarmed by the potential for abuse of the vast amounts of personal information collected. But let’s remember that all this information was given VOLUNTARILY to make our lives easier (credit cards), safer (catching criminals using technology/tracking), and fairer. The key is to punish, with swift and sure justice the true misuse of the information for bad.
Lou, considering that human rights are simply made up, how can you say that some don’t exist?! If enough people believe a right exists, eventually it will.
I disagree with the ultra left wing ACLU on just about everything, but I have to agree that this would be bad. And do you know that those club cards you use at the suppermarket are tracked. You buying habbits are sold for a profit. Its only a matter of time before you get a call from your insurance company cancelling your policy because you bought 10 boxes of cookies in the last 2 weeks.
gquaglia, how can you disagree with the ACLU on “everything.” Are you truely against free speech?
The sole complaint I have against the ACLU is for what it doesn’t do: Protect the 2nd amendment.
Whoa guys, this is about 3-4 years old now. I look forward to this blog keeping up to date sometime soon.
Nothing wrong with being an idiot, Lou, that’s just you. However, there IS a HUMAN RIGHT for equality and privacy, and if you can’t see that, then indeed you are an idiot. Is it fair and just that just because I am a 24 year old male my insurance should go up? No. But it does. Live with that fact.
Blogs are barely 4 years old yet, quit crying.
That was very amusing.
The ACLU is against Christmas, the pledge of alegiance and lots of other traditional American values. They used to be about protecting freedoms, now they’re nothing more then a left wing, ultra liberal organization that is trying to force its vision of America through the courts.
Privacy is a human *right*? Really? Hmm..as I read the Constitution, I don’t see anything about the right to “privacy”. Life? Check. Liberty? Check. Pursuit of happiness? Check. Privacy? Nothing there. There something about not being required to provide quarter to soldiers but nothing about privacy. While I agree that citizen’s privacy is important, I’m not so sure it rises to the level of a “right”.
I agree with ACLU more often than not. For those “ACLU are liberals” folks, it might behoove to read up on their history. The ACLU was actually started by conservatives.
The ACLU is not against Christmas. They are against the enforcement of Christmas as a *national* holiday ignoring all other religions and ignoring the separation of Church and State. If we are going to allow Christmas to be a national holiday, then why not make Yule, Kwanzaa and Chanukah national holidays?
The ACLU is not against the Pledge of Allegiance. The ALCU is against the notion that you must believe in a monotheistic religion in order to pledge allegiance to your country. We went 160 some odd years without having to claim belief in a religion in order to pledge allegiance to the country. So why should it be required now? The ACLU is against laws which endorse one religion or set of religions over others (including no religion). Why not change the Pledge to state “Under Zeus” or “Under the Gods” or “Under Spirits of the Underworld”?
The ACLU is about protecting the rights proclaimed by the Founders in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Sometimes they are off the mark like this video which is mostly FUD. However, there is nothing wrong with a healthy distrust of your government.
gquaglia, do you even realize you’re contradicting yourself?! The ACLU is not trying to “force its vision.” It’s trying to protect people from forcing YOUR vision!
You want to pray! Fine. Just don’t force my kids to pray. You want to say the pledge of allegiance. Fine, but is America so free that we have to force people to pledge to it?! You want to celebrate Christmas?! Fine, but why should Muslims, Hindus, Jews, atheists, and everyone else be forced to celebrate too?!
The point of the ACLU is to keep the public forum free from dogmatism. That stops you from jamming your beliefs down my throat. And me from doing the same to you. And that is something you should appreciate.
gquaglia is probably one of those people that think this is a christian nation (in words maybe, but not in overall deeds). the Bush admin’s right wingers want to make this a christian fundamentalist version of the taliban, but that’s ok.
the country was founded by atheists & agnostics & the people that massacred the native americans definitely weren’t any form of christian. if you want a country with a national religion, move somewhere else. the rest of us don’t want religious oppression.
& lastly, christmas is a blatantly pagan religion. christianity stole a great deal from pagan religions & zoroastrianism. christians should want it banned if they follow the Bible because it is a bastardized version of the celebration of Christ’s birthday & is celebrated about 2 months after the determined true monthly birth date.
Actually this country was first settled by the puratins. And the framers of the constitution had a great belief in God. Check your history. And no I do not want a national religion and don’t even go to church. I’m just and tired of the traditions of this country being challenged in court by a small minority and yes most americans aren’t on the side of the ACLU.