"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" . . .Santanyana
It has often been presumed that the history of human events proceeds in a circular fashion such that the players in the human drama are forced to repeat regrettable mistakes over and over again.
The Middle Ages, often referred to as the "Dark Ages" because the Greek and Roman civilizations had fallen, was a time when Europeans were hard pressed to stay alive. The European peasant could no longer depend on the Roman army for protection against various invading German, Viking and Magyar tribes who plundered homes and farms throughout Europe leaving death and destruction in their wake. As a result many peasants gave up their freedom to become a serf in exchange for protection by the local Noble. During this historical period, a manor was the sole property of a noble who owned a castle, small village, farmland and everything on it.
Since
history appears to be circular, it is reasonable to ask, "In exchange for
governmental protection, are we, as a free democratic society, willing to give
up our constitutional rights out of fear that terrorists might invade the
sanctity of our homes, our lives and those of our families?" Has the horrific "9-11" attack led to
such massive and desperate fear of dying that, as a society, we are willing to
allow our government to violate our privacy, arrest without warrant and public
trial, those persons accused of terrorism and then are shipped to a foreign
land where certain forms of torture are administered?
Lo-and-behold,
it came to pass some horrible assassin armed with weapons of unspeakable power
trespassed into a school filled with children and proceeded to lay waste to all
around him - fear, panic and anger spread across the land. "Surely," declared some, in a moment of
fear, "the Second Amendment cannot possibly include assault type weapons and
ammunition clips of ten or more bullets.
We must hasten to limit our right to bear arms!"
Even
so, there are high ranking government officials, of noble rank, who view these
"minor" intrusions into our private lives as being necessary for our own
protection. After all, our
government remains transparent and open to public view and American citizens
are still allowed freedom of speech and of the press - except, well, someone
like Edward Snowden must be prevented from revealing our spying techniques to
the "free" press because there are limits to how much the public is allowed to
know.
One
wonders if kings, or heads of state, during the middle ages, consulted with the
average citizen and/or peasant when it was decided to break up the kingdom in
favor of land partitions for the benefit of various "Nobles" who would then
swear their allegiance to their benefactor. Of course (just like today) those were
desperate times - Europe, after the fall of Rome, was under constant attack by
various barbaric tribes. Deals had
to be made for the public good.
Accordingly,
the American citizen was not consulted prior to putting into play various
surveillance activities designed to protect these very same citizens. But more to the point - maybe the
average American does not care "just keep the good times rolling!" We know that a huge percentage of
Americans do not bother to vote.
The
terrifying next question, in the circular pattern of history, have we become so
complacent and dependent upon "others" for our safety that we, down the road,
are willing to abandon our responsibilities as a democratic society and become
slaves to our fear?