=09"Am I missing something here?"
=09Yes, you most certainly are!
=09Your self-description sounds most apt. (except for the communist p=
art,
which is totally inappropriate.) You might add "someone who has had n=
o
experi
=FBence with a truly repressove society.
=09Since you cannot distinguish between peeing in a cup and giving up=
 your
rights as a free citizen of a supposedly democratic nation, and have =
no
conception of "the greater good of everyone," I'd say you are missing=
=20
something, a something that is evidently missing in a segment of the =
readers of=20
this list.
=09A flase positive on a mandatory, unjustified urine test is not=
=20
just "annoying," nor is an unjustified breathalizer test or having yo=
ur car=20
torn apart on the edge of the interstate. These are all infringements=
 on
your "inalienable rights." Do you know what that means? Inalienable r=
efers=20
to rights that are yours by nature of your existence as a human being=
..
They are not granted you by any governmental body. You have them beca=
use you=20
exist.
=09Now if you're anxious to give up those rights "for the greater goo=
d
of all," that's your individual right. But don't assume that I'm goin=
g to
satnd quietly aside when some state-sponsored goon demands that I sub=
mit
to unsubstantiated search and seizure, of my person, my house or any =
of
my possessions.
=09I thought anthropology was supposed to be the most subversive of=
=20
disciplines, that out multi-cultural perspective gave us an increased=
=20
understanding of the various way in which human beings attempt to man=
ipulate
each other. Judging by the recent crop of twenty-something cynic
[guilty! :) ], generation Xer, even *gasp* Republican" aspirant, I'd =
say
something is amiss!
=09Mike Lewis
=09University of Alaska Fairbanks