Citizens willing to trade freedom for security, until it is their own

Reading a Dallas News story on the quarantine of a nurse returning from an Ebola infected area made it clear that some Americans are more than willing to trade freedom for security until it is THEIR freedom being sacrificed for the greater good.

Kaci Hickox, a nurse who decided to go to Africa to help Ebola victims, returned. She honestly answered the entry questions and was told that she might have to answer “a few questions.”

Ms. Hickox temperature was checked in accordance with Homeland Security guidelines and found to be febrile. She was told that she would be quarantined and where.

She spent a few hours in the airport holding area and wrote that she wondered what she “had done wrong.”

No one believes that Nurse Hickox did anything wrong. She decided to help a less fortunate populace with her considerable skills – nothing wrong with that.

The confusion comes from the fact that her decision to selflessly risk her health and life did not end when she left Africa. She CHOSE to take that risk and it came with repercussions. After having two or more health workers out in the open in the U.S. after having been infected.. she should be only so happy to be quarantined. She does not get to risk the infection of the entire nation simply because she believes she is healthy.

The idea that quarantine of those coming from overseas is unwarranted is new. Animals, fruit and vegetables are inspected and held. If only humans underwent the same scrutiny, perhaps some young, innocent American children would still be alive instead of victims of a disease this nation hasn’t seen for 50 years prior to Obama’s opening of the border.

Many would gladly subject themselves to body scanners, luggage searches or other inconveniences in the hope that it makes them safer – although it does not.

Here, someone returning from an area overrun with a lethal virus is criticizing officials for keeping her out of the public until they can make sure she is not contagious.

This isn’t about who is right or wrong. This is about understanding principle over ideology. Either you believe that freedom is an easy sacrifice in return for public safety or you realize that the government can easily use public safety concerns to strip away your freedom. You cannot have it both ways. Choose carefully – the feds will not.