Wednesday, March 28, 2007

"Patriot Act" response


Since I haven't had time to write my own content in the last few days, I am just going to post one of the comments that I received on my post from last week, "Patriot Act Abused...." I feel it is a very good summation of the direction that our country is going. These changes may not happen in our lifetime, but we are responsible for the country that we leave to our children. I will keep the author anonymous unless they let me know that they want credit for this. Here it is.....
"In answer to the question posed at the end of your write up, it will never end. The goal was never to fight terrorism, or to increase security. The patriot act was simply a hodgepodge of power expanding tools that law enforcement had tried to ram through congress before and failed(sometimes more than once). http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/17326res20030403.html The only purpose of the patriot act is to expand government power. To show why snooping, gag orders, and opacity in the ruling power do not, and cannot increase security (or, as it is sometimes put in true double-speak ("preserve the American way of life") imagine an environment where the police can search your dwelling or person for any reason or no reason. As a matter of course, they tap your phone, they read your mail, and they watch you 24/7 both in person and with cameras. You are not allowed a weapon of any kind, but they constantly scan the horizon, automatic weapons ready for use at the first sign of trouble. Imagine a world where privacy is not an option. Where those in power choose what you read, what you watch on TV, even what you wear. It might not sound fun, but it would definitely be considered secure by those who support the patriot act. This world already exists: it's called prison. Would you feel safe in prison? "

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