Don’t be the frog

All of you who took biology back in high school remember the experiment with the frog. If you heat the water and drop in the frog, out he jumps. If you put the frog in cold water and slowly turn up the heat, the frog will happily swim about until his goose is cooked. We are the frogs in the warming water.

Little by little, our freedoms are being replaced by a government that wants more and more power under the guise of keeping us safe. The Internal Revenue Service intrudes on tea party organizations, as they are deemed to be anti-government and therefore dangerous. The Justice Department invades freedom of the press examining Associated Press sources under the Patriot Act. The National Security Agency gains access to Verizon’s business phone customers to root out evildoers. These are just a few examples of our intrusive government.

To paraphrase Ben Franklin: He who sacrifices liberty for security deserves neither. Forty years ago, the scandals besetting Washington would have prompted absolute outrage. Friends, the water is warming. How many of us are willing to turn off the heat? Or, will we sit back and wait until our goose is cooked?

John Miller

Spokane Valley