Security, Theory and the Oxen

Want greater security? To test the instinctively obvious supposition that security, meaning greater accumulations of security, without limitation, could improve the caliber of the public liberties either quantitatively or qualitatively, several thought experiments might be in order.

Let’s consider the individual, community, and international scenarios, putting momentarily aside whether any difference exists between the last two only for the sake of argument. The initial consideration will be the maximum security prison. It could hardly be more transparently clear that the liberty of an individual is highly negatively affected there. As a corollary, by loosening security and placing individuals into a medium or minimum security setting liberties undeniably become more expansive. On another plane, pun intended: of airline security it should be asked whether checkpoints and screening for tightened security have positively or negatively altered the Peoples’ liberties, and whether this has been a socially acceptable sacrifice. Similarly the PATRIOT Act, and all other means taken if furtherance of the security of our homeland in testing our premise vis a vis individual liberty, should be reexamined regularly with a view to effectiveness and cost.