Power corrupts.

I was having a political conversation with a co-worker the other day, about the recent uncovering of the NSA database of information on US citizens. This co-worker asked the question: "What's wrong with giving up a little freedom in order to give the government the power to stop terrorists?" This struck me as a horribly ignorant and naive question, but I was unable to quickly formulate a response. I mean, why indeed?

I could have told her to read '1984' or 'V for Vendetta', two excellent, if highly romanticized books on the subject. I could have said "History has proven time and time again that far reaching power given freely is never used in the public interest". Alas, it was not until later that I was visited by L' Esprit de la Escalier. My co-worker's argument was that if she never felt the need to do anything which would raise the ire of the state, why should she be concerned about the steps taken to ensure her security? I pointed out that she could never guarantee that her values or her family's and those of the state would be in alignment, but she did not seem to understand. I was not speaking clearly.

It seemed odd to me that anyone could undervalue freedom to that extent. Still, that seems to be the case in so many of the younger people that I see around me. I suppose that it has always been this way. Those who have an acute sense of history and its cycles are usually those who have tasted loss for themselves at some point, and are generally older people with more experience overall. It struck me once again that we as a species are in fact doomed to repeat history again and again, because with time every memory fades.