Steve Kurtz and the dangers of government

The case of Steve Kurtz illustrates how dangerous laws passed during a time of panic can be, because the USA PATRIOT act was signed just over a month after 9/11, and this was a time when america as a whole was scared, and it was a kneejerk reaction to the terrorist attacks, much in the same way that there have been laws passed during almost every major war the US has been involved in that restricted civil liberties. However, the case of Steve Kurtz was a simple matter of the US Government attacking a civilian for something that normally would have been a civil matter between manufacturers of seeds and bacteria cultures, and attempted to redefine it as a criminal act.

The danger of this is quite simply that it gives the american government more surveillance powers and takes away our rights to know about it, almost as if you took J. Edgar Hoover out of the 1950s and the Red Scare, and gave him todays technology and turned him loose. This is stripping away our civil liberties in a way that is very scary, because you cannot trade away privacy and rights for security. In fact, there are 2 quotes from Edward R. Murrow, one of the leading figures of journalism from the 1940's and 50's that resonate with todays situation.

"The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it — and rather successfully."

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason"

---Edward R. Murrow's See It Now broadcast, 1954

These quotes, taken from Edward R. Murrow, were from a broadcast during the height of the Red Scare, right before McCarthy's fall from grace as it were, however, with a few changes in wording, it resonates just as well today, and illustrates a government unleashed during a time of public panic as a terrifying genie that may prove impossible to put back in the bottle.