betterthantv

I think START is primarily for nuclear ICBMs, isn't it? And in all fairness, how many weapons have we sold to foreign nations that have been used against Russia at some point? I'm not trying to be contrary, just curious about the perspective.

I see stuff like this, and of course, the general public's first response is to say to the government, "What are you going to do about this? How are you going to protect us from this threat?" And I look at the news, and see all these various threats to public safety, whether it's drugs and drug cartels, violent criminals, scam artists, tainted food, you name it and it seems the reaction is always the same one: what is government going to do to protect/prevent/prosecute? Is it any wonder that we are seeing a greater intrusion into our lives, the government is taking control over more and more aspects, aren't we basically asking them to?

Sometimes I sit back and think, "well, so what?" Promoting public welfare is in the constitution as a expectation of the government, so how much liberty do we give away to ensure our our personal happiness and safety? There has to be some, otherwise we wouldn't have a unified country. My dad lives in Mexico now, working for a giant multinational, and folks with any kind of money have to organize into small groups and build these huge walls around their homes, like 12 feet high and pay a dude 24/7 to man the gate, because they cannot rely on local law enforcement. And yes, while we have some threats to our homes, it's nothing like there. We're sitting in Starbucks in a good area of Mexico City, 3 guys with shotguns held, pistols, vests, bandoleers, come in. One stands at the door, the other two go back to the safe to take the nights deposit to the bank. This isn't some 50 year old guy with a pot belly, this is 3 fricking commandos, for Starbucks. They've got all sorts of liberty there, probably more than we do, and it seems like the more liberty people have, the more of a threat they are to their neighbors.

I don't know what that balance is, honestly.