Thought crime.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7084801.stm

Untold numbers of lives have been willfully sacrificed in combat over a couple hundred years so that we, as Americans, would have the ability to read whatever we want and not be considered criminals for it. Freedom of thought.

Some people argue that it would be wrong to wait until someone took a violent action, that it would be better to catch them before they could fulfill a terrorist act. Would I want my son to be killed by a person like that before the police took action to stop them?

We, collectively as Americans, have seemed to value our lives above our freedoms. Most of us have no sense of sacrifice for the common good. I dread the idea of my son or my family losing their lives, but my greater fear is that my son will not have freedom in his lifetime.

Where is the common ground? Is this something we meet halfway on? Or do we fight to keep the freedom in its entirety?