USATourist Community

I have never been to the USA. There was a time not long when I would have loved to visit. I grew up reading Jack Kerouac novels and was keen on a good old road trip. I wanted to see the "real" USA, but not now. These days you wouldn't get me to set foot in the USA any reason at all. Why?

Well, recently, the United States government announced that all non-citizens entering the USA will be given a terrorist risk assessment, with the resulting data being kept on record for forty years. Essentially 32 million non-citizens entering the country annually are to be fingerprinted and photographed at 115 airports, 15 seaports and 154 land ports.Obviously this only applies to people crossing the border LEGALLY. People who for whatever reason cross the border illegally will never get a "terrorist profile". Pointless? Seems like it, but the ramifications are the same.

Unsurprisingly I am reluctant to be catalogued by a foreign power, especially as the new laws are except from the privacy Act of 1974 that allow people to access records to determine "if the system contains a record pertaining to a particular individual" and "for the purpose of contesting the content of the record." In a nutshell, even if I live in Europe the US government has all of my personal data locked up in an incontestable and inaccessible private datafile and there's not a damned thing that I nor anyone else can do about it. Considering the emergence of the global economy, this is economically short-sighted (I am a tourist, but now my money is going elsewhere), but moreover utterly pointless as it seems to me to be little more than harassment of people entering the USA via legal means.

This is all undertaken, of course, under the ever growing "threat" of terrorism, but it just seems to me to further evidence that the USA is drifting closer and closer to draconian police state. Obviously the USA is nowhere near as far down this road as many other places in the world, but the keyword missing here for me is “yet”. I am also aware that many Americans will consider this post anti-American, but that's a ridiculous notion. I have no beef with Americans, nor their country - government yes, but I am none to fond of my own either.

As far as I am concerned this policy is offensive to non-Americans, it labels us as criminals as terrorists without any notion of innocent before proven guilty. That's why my tourist dollars will be going elsewhere, and don't think I am alone in thinking this way, far from it.

I understand how you feel.  Many of us who live in the USA feel much the same.  It has been over six years since that small band of terrorists attacked the World Trade Centers, and our country has never been the same since.  Our land of freedom and good will has become a land of suspicion and fear.  It seems like the terrorists won.  They planted the seed of fear in the hearts of our people.  Our people allowed that seed to blossom into paranoia, then chose weak leaders willing to sacrifice our sacred freedoms in the name of security.

Immediately after the 911 attack, people began to attach US flags on their cars.  They pasted small signs on their window and auto bumpers with sayings like, "united we stand", "we shall never forget"  and "God bless America".  We call this "bumper sticker patriotism".  These same people cowered at home, afraid to fly in any airplane, terrified of another attack.  They became suspicious of all strangers.  Our opportunistic politicians promised to restore our security by enacting precautionary laws and regulations.  Slowly, they robbed us of our essential freedoms, all in the name of protection.  Anyone who spoke against them was labeled a coward, a traitor or a fool.

 I do not despair.  Democracy has a resiliancy that allows it to heal itself given enough time.  The people of the USA are already beginning to awaken.  They realize that our leaders have eroded our basic freedoms in the name of security, and they do not like it.  Our last election was a beacon of hope.  Many of the conservative exploiters of fear were removed from office.  Slowly, our politicians are beginning to restore our cherished freedoms.

We are not a people who believe in agression, in torture or in the violation of human rights.  The foundation of our government is based on "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".  We were once the beacon of hope for oppressed people in other lands and we want to gain that title back.  Most of us can see that we erred in allowing our freedom to be sacrificed so cheaply.  I think we will fight to restore it.  Our courage is slowly returning.

 Please have patience with us!