The comments on the newspaper’s “County looks to expand prohibition of grass and weeds taller than a foot” web page were illustrative.

Overwhelmingly, writers were outraged at government determining how tall vegetation can grow on their property. A disturbing question is, Where are these people when the government nibbles away at personal freedoms?

Where is the clamor over government intrusion into our persons at airport security check-ins, where strangers are permitted to grope one’s private parts? Or when scanners visually strip travelers naked in the name of “security”?

Where is the uproar as personal activities come under airborne scrutiny via high flying drones with spy cameras, watching our every move in the name of crime deterrence?

Where is the outcry when government runs the people so far into debt that even our grandchildren cannot claw out from under it?

The public voice is silent as government sends dollars to countries clearly not our friends (Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Brazil).

Why does the public allow government to shackle domestic oil production, making us pay for imported fuel, the profits of which go to tyrannical governments that enslave their people in the name of religion?

On dumbed-down school testing our children continue to perform poorly, but where is the demand for better education from parents?

Why are charter schools protested against when the public school system clearly isn’t doing the job?

Yet one kid calls another kid a name on the playground and the great government machine swings into action crying “Bullying” and slaps handcuffs on a child.

Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

The great American public has a sorely misplaced concept of what is really important to our country and our freedom.

Ken Schaefer

Sharpsburg