I think people have fallen off topic here, let me try to bring the discussion back.
But first, to Jimmy Botswana: The United States spends a smaller percentage of its GDP on defense than any other major military power, were just so rich that its still more than the next ten people combined And in matters of continental defense, both Canada and the United States normally make a joint effort i.e. NORAD... look it up.
Anyhow,
The mail. Is the unwarranted search of people's mail bad? Most of you have said yes, hell yes. Some of you have said no, for various reasons. Reasons like:
1. I have nothing to hide: The simple fact of the matter is, yes you do have something to hide. You see, identity theft has become a serious problem, and with things sent to you via USPS mail people can acquire everything they need to scam you over. No law abiding person should be afraid of their government as an institution when it comes to personal mail, you're right. But the government is not just an institution, it is a group of people; good and bad. I have everything to hide from the bad, as do you. The federal government employs some 2 million people excluding the military and postal service... rest assured corruption spans the length and breadth of this government as we have seen with the recent investigations into congressional officials, judges, and even police officers. Those who are good will try to protect us from the bad, and to do that they NEED tools like warrants and other such stuff.
2. Were at war, sacrifices need to be made: You're damned right were at war. But you're wrong as to what were at war against. We are not at war against a hostile nation, we are not at war against a bunch of terrorists. We are at war against an idea, and if you know any history you will know that such wars are not won exclusively with bombs, tanks, guns or planes. Such wars are won by maintaining one's own ideas, by not wavering or compromising one's own ideals to make the shooting war easier. You might say "but we need these sacrifices right now, or else we won't win." That's bullshit, have more faith in your military, which has the largest technological advantage over its enemies in history. Those of you who claim we need these sacrifices are the same people who then claim that we have the moral high ground. If you want to claim the moral high ground then you have to be moral, and actually have it. This means letting people express themselves anyway they feel, letting the immoral be immoral because its not your business to tell them otherwise so long as they don't harm you, and allowing people to have privacy and secrecy in their lives because we all have things that we regret and wish to keep secret. When we fought fascism in world war 2 we fought an idea. In order to defeat that idea, we had to destroy its army. But that did not signal victory over fascism, the reconstruction of Europe and Japan through the Marshall plan signaled the victory over fascism. Now we fight "terrorism", but more specifically we are fighting religious extremism. We are fighting a complex doctrine of rules that would destroy the ideas of personal freedom and privacy, ideals which I believe to be sacred to America being America. If to beat religious extremism we sacrifice the ideals we were defending, do we really win? Are we still America? While we might still be America in name and location, we would no longer be America in spirit and so America would be destroyed in order to survive.
@lowing: I'm not liberal, I'm American, an American who cares about the ideals we claim to defend just as much as the country itself. For the ideals are what makes America America, not the people. Without the ideals, America is just another Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, or Roman Empire.