Safety or freedom?

There is virtually no way to be a "freedom purist." Libertarians, who want a radically simplified government, are in fact reactionaries; America in 1776 was in many ways worse than it is now. Every time there have been national emergencies, (Civil War, Mexican War, WWI, WWII, Cold War, war on terror,) freedom was supposedly compromised in the interests of the nation. Because we have a strong democratic tradition, concerns were raised each time about this issue, but honestly, we've survived over 300 years and America is still doing pretty damn well. What we have right now is a recession, not the nation going down the toilet.