%title The Deal - a draft of an open letter;
%date 2004-10-18 07:33:17
:diary:livejournal:fossils:

<em>Comments appreciated, I suppose, though keep in mind I haven't slept yet.  This comes from the current debate on whether implanted chips containing our medical data are an invasion of privacy.  What I mean to express is that I don't care so much about the privacy issue, but more about why I feel that I can't trust America with this information.</em>

Dear America,

America, we had a deal.  This deal had been worked over and hammered out more than two hundred years ago.  A deal that would ensure my safety as well as guarantee my loyalty and my works to you.  And for this, I would entrust to you a few of my rights to help contribute to the idea of a country built upon freedom, giving me laws as guidelines to what's generally acceptable to keep this dream going.

America, the older I get and the more experience I have in dealing with your laws and your people, the more and more often I see this deal being broken.  People give you their rights to hold dear - for what is more dear to us than our rights - and often you ask for more rights, and ever more until you work to restrict rights in the very document that guarantees them: the Constitution.  Now, beyond even rights, you ask to infringe upon something even more fundamental to people - their privacy.

America, I don't want this deal to break.  I want to trust you, and continue to trust you if you will trust me, and most of all, I want to feel like I can give you anything you ask of me without the fear of being taken advantage of.  So that's what I'll do.  I've give you all that you ask of me, I promise, but in exchange, I expect that you'll respect our deal.  The deal between you and me to understand that I am entrusting a few of my rights as well as my loyalty and works to ensure my safety.  And my freedom.

Thank you, America,

Matt Scott