Poll: Majority Think Government a Threat to Freedom

Washington (CNN) – A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to rights of Americans, according to a new national poll.

Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they think the federal government’s become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. Forty-four percent of those polled disagree.

Heh.

Comments

13 Responses to “Poll: Majority Think Government a Threat to Freedom”

  1. Tim R. on February 26th, 2010 10:25 am

    Shouldn’t that always be our fear?

  2. Complainers on February 26th, 2010 10:54 am

    It is only through government that the citizenry can truly be free.

    Measures that ensure ordered liberty, like the Patriot Act, lift Americans out of the quagmire of individualistic chaos spawned by obsolete documents like the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights.

    Obedience is the path to autonomy.

  3. Phillip J Hubbell on February 26th, 2010 12:57 pm

    The danger from too much government has never been that it is diabolical and will do terrible things to the people and our liberty…it is that it becomes so big and clumsy that it might trip and fall over on us. With government it isn’t conspiracy that scares me…but inertia.

  4. Anonymous on February 27th, 2010 7:51 am

    Living in a country with 350 million people with is a threat to rights of Americans. We need a certain level of government just to keep the wheels on.

  5. Dallasite on February 27th, 2010 1:24 pm

    “With government it isn’t conspiracy that scares me…but inertia.”

    True or not, that is a great sentence, and I plan to blatantly, and unapologetically, use it without giving you credit.

    Kudos.

  6. Dallasite on February 27th, 2010 1:26 pm

    Anonymous on February 27th, 2010 7:51 am

    “Living in a country with 350 million people with is a threat to rights of Americans. We need a certain level of government just to keep the wheels on.”

    True, but it should be the absolutely least amount possible without hindering the nation or its people.

    People should be free to be legally successful without worry that the government will punish them for nothing more than their success.

  7. Anonymous on February 28th, 2010 6:44 am

    “True, but it should be the absolutely least amount possible without hindering the nation or its people.”

    And of course everyone agrees on this “least amount.” and how much “hindering” we can collectively endure. It’s starting to look like the modern “libertarian” will find expression in just a few short years – total economic collapse.

  8. Dallasite on February 28th, 2010 10:35 am

    “It’s starting to look like the modern “libertarian” will find expression in just a few short years – total economic collapse.”

    The current administration’s policies will pretty much guarantee that.

  9. Anonymous on February 28th, 2010 12:14 pm

    Just think of all the liberty you’ll experience with a worthless currency, insane inflation and a nation of hyper-individuals pursuing their own liberties. No wonder the libertarians are so cocky, with the prospect of gunplay as a normal part of daily life.

  10. Tim R. on February 28th, 2010 4:15 pm

    In any nation where the government is not in fear of the people, you have tyranny.

    That’s why the Founders enshrined our right to bear arms so that we could change our government by force, if necessary.

    Government is not the protector of freedom. Wherever government exists it attempts to expand its power. Government can only expand its power at the expense of the true sovereign of our nation: The People.

    Say what you will about the Libertarians, and I do say quite a lot about their “Free Market Religion,” but when it comes to their advocacy of individual liberty, they are spot on correct.

  11. Anonymous on February 28th, 2010 6:09 pm

    “…when it comes to their advocacy of individual liberty, they are spot on correct.”

    And so is the child who refuses to pick up his toys because it infringes upon his rights.

  12. Anonymous on February 28th, 2010 7:32 pm

    Ninety-nine percent of people questioned in a Reason Magazine survey released Friday say they think parents have become so large and powerful that they poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of children.

  13. Update on February 28th, 2010 7:37 pm

    Tying it all together: global warming, the Patriot Act, and the bailouts.

    http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17826

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