You Can't Defeat Tyranny with Tyranny

"The march of communism or other forms of slavery can never be checked by suppression of freedom of speech." - J. Gresham Machen, The Christian View of Man, 1937

Now, if only this wise insight was digested by those who were carrying out the various forms of the "Red Scare" inquisitions back in the day, such as the HUAC-hearings, etc.

The true way to fight the Reds was to offer a viable alternative of genuine liberty for the people, NOT to use their tactics on local citizens.

To apply this to our modern day, Islamic terrorism can not be defeated by installing an alternate Westernized authoritarianism. Anyone who seriously suggests that we need accept tyranny to be safe from terrorism is simply asking us to exchange one tyranny for another. Its sort of like inviting a coyote into the pen to protect the sheep from wolves--when really the coyote will neither fend off the wolves nor leave the sheep alone. A wolf may theoretically be more of a threat than the coyote, but a coyote in the pen is more of a direct threat to the sheep than the news that a wolf is SOMEWHERE out there.

And Ben Franklin's words also ring true here: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety".