Patriot Act?

[elfie_chan]

Okay, I'm disturbed and confused. I was reading the editorials in the newspaper today, and one of them said that the government has passed something called the "Patriot Act." Apparently, according to this act, if the government even SUSPECTS that you may be involved in a terrorist act, they can confiscate anything you own, search without warrant, lock you in jail without trial, and any number of other things. I'm inclined to take this with a grain of salt, but still...can they do that? Doesn't that go against the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? Didn't we build this nation on the principle that all of us are created with certain unalienable rights, including the right to privacy? Now, I don't want terrorists to get away with anything, but no one should be able to be searched and so on without a warrant and reasonable suspicion. Also, who defines reasonable suspicion? What IS reasonable suspicion? I'd like some clarification of terms. If this editorial is correct, then we in America are in some deep doo-doo. I am a big believer in freedom. I believe that freedom comes with responsibility, but I also believe that the government does not own us, and the government should not go on some power trip out of fear and ego. Am I overreacting? I guess I'll have to wait and see. I really don't like the idea of America's basic freedoms being whittled away in the name of the War on Terrorism.

Well, that's all for now. Gotta do chores and stuff. Comment, please, and let me know what you think. Also, here's the link to the actual text of the Act.

Patriot Act

Comments

[atrivus.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm, this certainly worries me too, Elfie-chan, if it's true. :\ I plan to look into it though. A friend of mine recently sent me a second-rate Internet news article that claimed that John Ashcroft made a public statement that he supported the terrorist acts on September 11th and that he was declaring the United States to be a dictator's police state with him as the head, and George W. Bush was backing him all the way. I looked for it among newspapers and spoke with my dad and all that such, turns out there's been no such article that I could find in any AMERICAN news panels. To me, that proves it to be a hoax, since if Ashcroft had made a public statement like that, we'd be the first to hear about it and get him kicked out of office. I'm just saying that it seems like an awful lot of people are trying to take advantage of the terrorist actions to make false accusations and put a very bad face on many of our top political leaders. This sounds like it might be one as well; I strongly doubt that people would stay in office long if this sort of thing was supported by the government.

[elfie-chan.livejournal.com]

Well, in this case, it's an actual Act. I read about it in the newspaper, and then I immediately went to the 'net to check it out. It's posted several places, with full text and everything. Needless to say, it looks pretty genuine. And that's what bugs me.

[arianadream.livejournal.com]

I read that too in the editorial columns today. It seriously disturbed me. I've been growing increasingly worried and frustrated about the state of the government and the presidency...I'm planning on writing our legislators.

[elfie-chan.livejournal.com]

I'm with you there, Ari-chan. Good idea. ^_^v

[nursemette.livejournal.com]

**snarls and bares her teeth**

These things pisses me off....