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Letter: They don’t mind giving up rights

Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2002 | 8:57 a.m.

Polls seem to indicate that voters are prepared to give Bush a Republican-controlled Congress strictly out of war-induced patriotic fervor. However, I have a feeling they must have some reservations under all the red, white and blue veneer.

Are they willing to give up Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc., in exchange for means-tested "faith-based" handouts? I wonder. Are they willing to give up a lot of their civil rights in exchange for protection against imaginary terrorism? I wonder. Are they willing to see the abolition of labor laws for an "Enron" free-market workplace? I wonder. The sad thing is that it is all possible if Republicans should receive a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, especially!

Just think -- the public being in such a trance induced by the terrorism scare and the "war on terrorism" (as long as it can be prosecuted casualty free) that they would give up some of the policies and programs along with their constitutional rights won through years of struggle.

The Republicans could stay in power for a long time just by bombing Third World countries on suspicion of "terrorism" or for no valid reason at all. Think about it.

DANIEL OLIVIER

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