The United States has an image problem. Already seen by many in the world as the country to fear the most, tourists find themselves under heightened anxiety when visiting the United States. Many will never know that its citizens are far friendlier than the government, which overly scrutinizes them before they set foot in the country because of the extra hoops one must jump through in order to visit. Making matters worse, the US Congress is now considering plans to force some visitors to register their whereabouts online with the Department of Homeland Security 48 hours before their intended travel begins.
The requirement, proposed by the Homeland Security Department, would apply to people in 27 mostly West European countries who are now able to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without visas. It would also apply to new entrants to the same so-called Visa Waiver Program, a status sought by 12 countries, many of them eastern and central European states new to the European Union that have placed enormous stock on getting in – for business, tourism, family links and plain national prestige.
The existing European members of the waiver program are not thrilled by the 48-hour requirement – a potential hardship for business people, who often change travel plans at the last minute – nor by some other tightening of standards for their airports and passport handling.
The natural privacy concerns under this plan concern the sharing of information. Other countries could retaliate against the United States and force the same type of registration process for Americans traveling to their country. Then, who controls the information and who would be sharing it with other countries not on an individual’s itinerary?
It’s really a 21st-century model”, said James Carafano, a Heritage Foundation analyst who specializes in homeland security. “It’ll all be done electronically and biometrically. And it really doesn’t compromise your privacy.”‘
We used to think of comments such as these as typical coming out of the USSR. It invades your privacy by assuming you are guilty of something. Your boss says, “You have to go to New York tomorrow,” and now you’re considered a terrorist. The more you have to transmit your personal information, the greater your chances of having that information stolen.
Many people in the U.S. seem to believe it is a natural instinct of every Pole, Hungarian or Slovak to want to stay in the U.S.,” Reiter said. “This is totally wrong today.”
Yes, because people want to flee tyranny and oppression, not enter it. We are now losing out, not only in billions of tourism dollars, but to scientists, researchers, and other workers who would have come here to make a life and contribute to the American society. The dollar amount is tangible and we can see the declining tourism but the intangible contribution many immigrants make to this country is not readily seen. Only when it is too late will the US government realize that they have screwed the country by shackling us to archaic ways of tracking people. People don’t like being treated like criminals when they’ve done nothing wrong and they are proving that by taking their money and lives elsewhere.
Before this becomes a law, one should consider the consequences of what will happen. For now, it is being applied only to foreigners. But we know it will be abused and used as a justification against Americans who happen to be persons of interest or some other sort of threat. Finally, it will be extended to all Americans. However, for your convenience as an American, the DHS will do this automatically for you whenever you wish to travel. Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, or any other terrorist doesn’t need to spend any more money on blowing up Americans in the USA. We’ve taken care of eliminating what America once was and stood for. We have done their job for them by turning ourselves into a near police state just so we can say, “better safe, than sorry.”
Another consideration in this proposal, is that this isn’t solving the problem. Again, this is more legislation to prevent terrorism, forgetting that all of the 9/11 hijackers had legal identification. This legislation is another control, another step into the police state, formulating a false sense of security that actually does jack-shit to protect you. Don’t put up with it. Get it stopped now, before it’s too late.
But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it and see it still.
Ronald Reagan
Farewell Address to the Nation
Oval Office
January 11, 1989
