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The Arguments In Favor Of Balancing Liberty And Security

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Similarly, these individuals who are in favor of balancing liberty over security also reference the ongoing IRS scandal, and how this also raises concerns about the concentration and abuse of power when it comes to government surveillance, (Sterner, 2014).
All things considered, these people who side with civil liberties and believe that it trumps national security measures; generally hold a consensus that our constitution should protect us from these overreaching aspects of government surveillance. In addition to that, they fear that if such measure are not controlled properly we may become a society that has a government which holds all too much power and control; resulting in pushing the limits, just like we saw in the course materials on George Orwell’s 1984 and also just like we saw in the course materials on Plato’s critique of democracy. …show more content…

On one hand, you want the government to be able to collect data in order to better protect our national security interests. However, on the other hand, I understand why many Americans argue that the government is overreaching with some of its security measures. Especially, when considering the NSA and how they collect data on millions of innocent Americans; which more than likely have no involvement with acts that would endanger our national security interests. For these various reasons, I’m not quite sure that there will ever be a specific answer to where a line should be drawn between liberty and security. However, in my opinion the extent in which we collect data on our own citizens is somewhat frightening and perhaps does present a point of contrast to where we can draw a line; or at least in the public’s

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