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The USA PATRIOT Act: The Story of an Impulsive Bill that Eviscerated America's Civil Liberties
Ammo.com ^ | 10/26/2020 | Sam Jacobs

Posted on 10/26/2020 9:29:04 AM PDT by ammodotcom

The USA PATRIOT Act provides a textbook example of how the United States federal government expands its power. An emergency happens, legitimate or otherwise. The media, playing its dutiful role as goad for greater government oversight, demands "something must be done." Government power is massively expanded, with little regard for whether or not what is being done is efficacious, to say nothing of the overall impact on our nation's civil liberties.

No goals are posted, because if targets are hit, this would necessitate the ending or scaling back of the program. Instead, the program becomes normalized. There are no questions asked about whether the program is accomplishing what it set out to do. It is now simply a part of American life and there is no going back.

The American public largely accepts the USA PATRIOT Act as a part of civic life as immutable, perhaps even more so than the Bill of Rights. However, this act – passed in the dead of night, with little to no oversight, in a panic after the biggest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor – is not only novel, it is also fundamentally opposed to virtually every principle on which the United States of America was founded. It might not be going anywhere anytime soon, but patriots, liberty lovers and defenders of Constitutional government should nonetheless familiarize themselves with the onerous provisions of this law, which is nothing short of a full-throttle attack on the American republic.

(Excerpt) Read more at ammo.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; History
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 10/26/2020 9:29:04 AM PDT by ammodotcom
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To: ammodotcom

Another thing to thank Bush for........../s


2 posted on 10/26/2020 9:31:39 AM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizens Are Born Here of Citizen Parents|Know Islam, No Peace-No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: ammodotcom

I remember well the overwhelming support for Bush and this abortion of a bill on the FreeRepublic.


3 posted on 10/26/2020 9:40:21 AM PDT by Seruzawa (TANSTAAFL!)
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To: ammodotcom

In general if you’re not a lawbreaker you have nothing to worry about

My famous quote about NSA spying etc. is that “who the hell wants to spy on you and your boring life?z”

Almost all of the media generation is designed to scare you


4 posted on 10/26/2020 9:44:42 AM PDT by Truthoverpower (The guv-mint you get is the Trump winning express ! Yea haw ! Trump Pence II! Save America again)
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To: Seruzawa

“I remember well the overwhelming support for Bush and this abortion of a bill on the FreeRepublic.”

It’s kind of reminds me of the Corona Cult. If you don’t support it you want people to die. Oh, and you’re stupid too and a traitor.


5 posted on 10/26/2020 9:45:05 AM PDT by dljordan
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To: ammodotcom

There was nothing impulsive about it. The bill had been sitting around for a couple of year. Originally it was supposed to fight organized crime, but they knew the American people should E#%$ bricks. Then 9-11 happened, they dusted it off, scratched out “organized crime” and replaced it with “terorrism” and WALLAH.


6 posted on 10/26/2020 9:48:53 AM PDT by discostu (Like a dog being shown a card trick)
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To: Seruzawa

I remember voicing my trepidation of this legislation at a Republican Women board meeting. I was shouted down that I should trust our President.
I told them he wasn’t always going to be President.


7 posted on 10/26/2020 9:49:51 AM PDT by DLfromthedesert
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To: ammodotcom

Let us remember this in the future because there will be similar attacks. I’d favor SUNSET requirements at 5 years that take 2/3rds vote in both houses to retain for another 5 years. After that, automatic repeal.


8 posted on 10/26/2020 9:49:54 AM PDT by SES1066 (2020, VOTE your principles, VOTE your history, VOTE FOR ALL AMERICANS, VOTE colorblind!)
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To: Truthoverpower

So very very not true. Because the Act allows them to indefinitely detain without charges or trial anybody they say is a terrorist all you need to do is make the wrong people angry.


9 posted on 10/26/2020 9:51:14 AM PDT by discostu (Like a dog being shown a card trick)
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To: SES1066

It has a sunset clause. They just keep quietly renewing it.


10 posted on 10/26/2020 9:52:20 AM PDT by discostu (Like a dog being shown a card trick)
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To: Lurkinanloomin

More and more clear in the rear-view mirror.

It turns out the solution to terrorism is not a “new normal” and endless foreign wars.

It’s prosperity that causes long-time enemies to make peace and drones that can take out the passenger while leaving the driver unharmed.


11 posted on 10/26/2020 10:00:18 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer.)
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To: All

DC spy system, complete electronic capture. Nothing like it in history.

Any USAians should be completely against such atrocity. Completely un-constitutional. No entity on earth should have such power.


12 posted on 10/26/2020 10:00:34 AM PDT by veracious (UN=OIC=Islam; USgov may be radically changed, just amend USConstitution)
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To: Seruzawa

I remember well the overwhelming support for Bush and this abortion of a bill on the FreeRepublic.

___________________________________________

Yep, I was one of them. At the time I supported all sorts of things that got abused.

I supported the military mission into Iraq and Afghanistan until I learned that they were gonna be nation-building projects that subjected my countrymen to attack and injury nearly 2 decades after the war started. Boy, time has certainly sobered me up to the consequences of “Forever Wars”.


13 posted on 10/26/2020 10:35:50 AM PDT by Bishop_Malachi (Liberal Socialism - A philosophy which advocates spreading a low standard of living equally.)
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To: DLfromthedesert

That’s the most overlooked thing. Anyone who tells you you’re paranoid for not trusting the government now will only stare at you blankly when you point out it will exist 100 years from now as well. The future is too vague a concept for most folks to handle.


14 posted on 10/27/2020 5:43:22 PM PDT by libertasbella
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