Freedom in America is Fading

Because our government officials are afraid of their own shadow they have set up the ironic situation where our Nations Capital is almost a police state. The largest irony of all is that in order to visit our shrines to freedom you must for go yours.

In Washington DC today you can not visit any museum without going through a metal detector. To visit our Capital you must get an appointment, pass through several check points and then be guided on a tour. If you are a foreign national the procedure gets much more intrusive. You can no longer just walk up to our Capital building, if you do so, you can be shot. To tour the White House you must get an appointment through your Representative or Senator six months in advance of your visit and under go a background check. This veteran thinks that the over reaction of our cowering government officials is hurting Americans and our image of ourselves far more than it is reducing terrorist activity.

What a poor message we are sending to the next generation. Children visiting the Capital must under go all the same security checks as anyone else. They will be growing up in a nation that claims to be the freest on earth, but are experiencing quite the opposite. They must be getting a very warped idea of the concept of freedom, one quite different than the one our founding Fathers conceived of.

The only exception to this excessive lockdown seems to be the National Cathedral. There anyone can walk in no questions asked, pockets do not have to be emptied, bags are not x-rayed, no metal detectors to walk through, and you can actually wander around in this lovely structure at will. This atmosphere is very refreshing in a time of fearful over reaction.

It is true that things changed after 9/11, but aren’t the terrorists winning if we have to give up any of our freedom?