Australia tells China "Screw off ! "

I am a classical liberal, so I stand for individual liberty and limited government. This does not mean that I believe government should not take measures to deal with security risks, whether they be in the form of war with another country, war with terrorist groups, or the fight against a pandemic such as we are in now. I don't want the measures taken to be more than the risk calls for. I realize that is not always an easy line to draw. Does the Patriot Act go too far? Maybe. Its impossible to say what didn't happen because of the Patriot Act. It is troubling but perhaps necessary, I don't know. I hope we can be rid of it at some point.

The real threat to our rights and liberties as I see it is coming from our education system. There was a Pew poll that showed that 40% of Americans under 35 thought that the government should limit free speech to prevent people from saying things that offended other people. That is scary. These people are going to be running the country some day. If they want to trash the 1st amendment imagine what other rights they will go after.

 

12 years of school - and we fail to teach to the basic requirements for someone to be a functional voter.

You did not answer the question - What are the limitations to Gov't power - where is the bar - as per the DOI.
Essential liberty is put "Above" the legitimate authority of Gov't. - protection from harm being the legitimate authority - direct harm - one person on another .. rape, murder, theft and so on.

That's the bar - Gov't has no legitimate authority to cross that boundary "of its own volition". It can appeal to "we the people" at that point - the requirement being 67% ... NOT - 50+1 .. as in both Classical Liberalism and Republicanism this would constitute "Tyranny of the Majority"

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
-- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781-82

If something is so harmful - well beyond what is normally tolerated - then an overwhelming majority will agree 2/3s

Pot vs Crystal Meth for example. No way you will get 67% agreeing that Pot should be criminalized. The law is thus "illegitimate" - by the definition of a constitutional republic and the founding principles.

Crystal Meth - a different story - I doubt 1 in 3 is going to accept that stuff as not super dangerous.

See how well our system works if we would just use it.

It is not a question of maybe - we are talking a risk of harm that is 400 times less than the risk of harm from walking... you have double the chance of being hit by a meteor - than being harmed in a terrorist attack - which btw - are at the lowest level since stats started to be kept in the 70's

So quiver with fear if you will .. but I doubt the average Joe would agree to give up liberty - upon understanding what an absurd made up fantasy this is.

Gov't has way too much power - transparency has been decreasing - abuse increasing .. because that's what happens when you get too much power - power corrupts and more power corrupts more.

We have a department - with a 130 Billion dollar budget - this is double the entire Federal Revenue of Mexico - a nation 11th in the world in terms of purchasing power.

One of the main things this department does - that which we call "Homeland Security" - and all its trappings - is create and disseminate State Sponsored propaganda .. legalized under Obama in 2013 - not that this wasn't happening for decades prevoius .. but ..hokey pokey has it ramped up since 911.

You are worried about Al Qaeda ? Seriously ? .. Over the last decade we were allied with Al Qaeda in 2 wars ... who are you kidding ?

Give up my liberty over Al Qaeda ? .. go fly a kite.