Realistically, I know that you're on the winning side of this argument, because people are afraid and threatened, and they are willing to give up a lot and do things they would never do in normal times because of that. (The Donner Party just popped into my head.) This makes me feel desperate and sad.

The things I argue about are things that mean more to me than my immediate physical safety, because I know that the ultimate safety of the nation (including, yes, the long-term physical safety of my family) depends on fighting a rear-guard action against the loss of our civil liberties to fear, neglect and forgetfulness.

I don't know who wrote it, but I read this sentence when I was maybe 8 years old in a list of "Quotes To Remember" in an old magazine my grandfather
subscribed to: "America is the world's last, best chance." Even then, though I wouldn't have had the vocabulary to express it this way, I knew the writer wasn't talking about economic or military power, but the power of ideas and the freedom to express and explore them. You're not willing to see that wiped out by people from elsewhere who hate freedom's possibilities; I'm not willing to see that wiped out by people from home who fear freedom's consequences.

Be well, Ed. Remember why you can have this conversation.

Regards--
Mary Anne