Try as I might, I cannot understand those people who, from one side of their mouths, ballyhoo themselves as “super patriots,” and from the other side, cheer on the diminution of all those things that have made the United States, for all of its shortcomings, a light in the world for so long.

Simple liberties most of us take for granted.

For example, there are people with pull in the present administration who believe that, during the present push to expel undocumented immigrants, suspending habeas corpus is the way to make it work. If that should happen, it would imperil the freedom we enjoy merely to walk along a street without fearing that the government could snatch us up and throw our butts in jail without having to explain why before a judge. This is fundamental to English common law and the U.S. Constitution.

Also in danger are the classical liberal values of free speech, freedom of the press, and the right to vote. Even today, none of those are the norm in most nations of this world. Indeed, many skeezy regimes have already clawed them back. Right here in the United States, our elected leader has openly talked about making it a jail-worthy crime to speak ill of him or to criticize him when we believe he is doing wrong. He has likewise openly pondered staying on as president when his term is up.

How much more un-American can he be?

So no, letting the essential pillars of our democracy fall doesn’t make a lick of sense to me. OK, I suppose if Jones imagines that the slow but steady erosion of the hard-won rights listed above will only affect that guy over there — and Jones hates him anyway — and leave Jones alone, that could make some kind of perverse sense. To Jones. Yet if history tells us anything, it tells us that the oppressors will not spare him, either.

When I think about all the political turmoil roiling this country today, the following words of Benjamin Franklin come to mind: “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Franklin wrote those words in 1755 to the speaker of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. In discussing that province’s defense against French and Indian attacks, Franklin argued that “the people” should not be forced to give up their right to vote for their representatives in exchange for military protection.

Franklin’s quote highlights the greater idea that sacrificing fundamental freedoms for short-term security is a bad bargain, as it ultimately leads to the loss of both.

Franklin’s words have launched countless discussions about the balance between individual liberties and government surveillance or security measures. Franklin’s point was that trading away essential freedoms for the promise of safety is not a sustainable or desirable approach. If people are willing to give up their liberties for temporary security, they will eventually lose both, as the government could become tyrannical, leaving the people with neither liberty nor safety.

Think about that.

Robert Whale can be reached at robert.whale@soundpublishing.com.