75-11-A2
- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1975
| << Previous Broadcast | Next Broadcast >> |
Is Government Our Big Brother?[edit]
Transcript[edit]My guest commentator, my daughter Maureen Reagan, is back with me today for her viewpoint on the issue of personal privacy in America. She'll be right with you. Every year activists at opposite ends of the political spectrum find themselves in greater agreement or perhaps that means the ends are becoming more extreme thus enlarging the middle ground of political thought. Legislation designed to safeguard every American's right to privacy finds among its supporters a patchwork of political design. For instance Aryeh Neier, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, has written a book called "Dossier: The Secret Files They Keep On You." The introduction is entitled "The Dossier-mongers." In the book he deals with such topics as law enforcement, political dossiers, credit bureaus, mental hospital records. In stating the problem I can find little disagreement with the idea that many facts about all of us are too widely known and held in computer banks over which we have no control. Mr. Neier and I further agree that controls of public information are desirable and necessary. In fact many of his suggestions were proposed in a privacy protection bill co-sponsored by Congressman Barry Goldwater Jr. The part of all this which amuses me is that ten years ago, when conservatives were begging for control of the runaway computer era, we could never have used the title, "The Secret Files They Keep On You." We were constantly attacked for seeing a conspiracy under every lamp post and our cries against the increasing control of big government were treated like the paranoic utterances of deranged fear-mongers. It's delightful to welcome our friends on the left to the battle for personal privacy and less government, though it may be a little late. This year the United States Supreme Court handed down a ruling which will allow the Internal Revenue Service to examine any bank records, at any time, without having to show just cause. The privacy of our records is no longer protected from this government agency. They don't have to explain to anyone what they're looking for they can just look. The autonomy of such a government agency has to be the biggest single threat to democracy in our history, but that's not bad enough. Having to dig for this information which the media obviously feels is unimportant does not alter the danger that within one week of that Supreme Court decision, the head of the U.S. Passport Department, a bureaucrat who's been allowed to remain in that position beyond the statutory age of retirement, was quoted as favoring a citizen identification card. Why? Well to protect us of course. A citizen I.D. would aid law enforcement, it would make record keeping easier, it would put an end to the employment of illegal aliens. Whether you consider yourself to be a liberal, a moderate or a conservative, think about these latest invasions of your privacy and remember it's only nine years till 1984. I'm Maureen Reagan. Thank you for listening. |
Details[edit]
| |||||||||||
Added Notes[edit]
|
