Decrease government surveillance Dear editor, Just as the only economic situation consistent with individual rights is the free market, so is it also true that individual life, liberty and happiness cannot develop under continuous government surveillance. Okaloosa suffers from a growing plague of government eyes just as the rest of the country does, and government health care or gun restrictions could not survive without them. Americans should oppose the power of government at all levels to monitor, account for and keep under surveillance its citizens, especially where there is no evidence of criminal behavior. This includes legislation that forces businesses and individuals to passively report activity to law enforcement agencies simply because private and legal activity is taking place; opposing laws that legitimize the means, without probable cause, to universally monitor personal mails, travel and finance; to create databases of personal information, medical records and communications without consent; to register personal property; and to use technology to continually observe the citizenry. We should oppose the inspection of travelers without probable cause; the assumption that individual travel is consent to inspection; and the further assumption by governments that they can universally approve, or disapprove, such travel without due process of law. The first, second, fourth, fifth, ninth, tenth and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution are all weakened, and in some cases made moot by universal government surveillance. Your business is not the government’s business as long as you aren’t using force or fraud on another. Pete Blome Chairman, Libertarian Party of Okaloosa County
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Letters to the Editor – Jan. 23, 2013