Tried to watch some of the Republican Presidential Debate this morning (I'm still in Saipan, remember), but it was an ordeal. Other than the always entertaining Ron Paul and the integrity of John McCain, I wouldn't cast a vote for any of those other bozos for dogcatcher.

The likes of Rudy Guiliani, Mitt Romney, Sam Brownback and Tom Tancredo manage to piss me off so much with their Bush-like fear-mongering it was all I could do to keep from picking up my television and shaking it, trying to knock some sense into their fool heads.

How long are they going to spout this security-over-liberty bullshit? It doesn't work! It's not what people want! All that happens when governments emphasize security over liberty is that people are no longer afraid of outside sources...they're too damned busy being scared of their own government!

I'm sure the people of Communist Russia didn't have time to fear outsiders, not with their own leader, Joseph Stalin, slaughtering Russian citizens by the millions out of sheer paranoia. I'm sure the subjects of Idi Amin didn't worry about invaders, they were too busy trying to avoid being on Dada's dinner menu.

You're never going to completely eliminate terrorism. There will always be some looney, or group of looneys, who will get their hands on automatic weapons or homemade bombs and stir up some serious jihad shit. But the way to battle that problem is not hiding behind closed doors and snitching on our neighbors who may be partaking in a little pot or gay sex. Pull the shades if you don't want to see.

Franklin Roosevelt said that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself. What he meant was what unreasonable fear does to people: paranoia, mob mentality, letting ourselves be stressed out by events beyond our control and committing acts no straight-thinking person would attempt on their own.

The sort of mass hysteria being pushed by the majority of the Republican candidates would be laughable if it weren't so contemptible.

Remember, Patrick Henry didn't say "Give me security or give me death." The rest of us shouldn't be saying it either.

Here's one vote for liberty.