Replies

sinkspur

I've asked it at least 50 times in the last 15 months, and never get an answer."

What specific freedoms do you think you have lost in your personal life since enactment of the first Patroit Act, and in what specific respects are you less safe today then you were on, say, September 10, 2001 as a result of the passage of that Act?

I wish you had asked me because my concerns do not lie with what freedoms I have lost but with the POWERS GIVEN TO GOVERNMENT! This is what I find frightening.

If there had been an exclusion in the Patriot Act or in # II for American citizens I wouldn't find it so objectionable. Presuming you are an American citizen, married with four married children and this power was IN ERROR executed "; federal agents could secretly arrest people and provide no information to their family, the media or their attorney until charges are brought, no matter how long that took; and it would allow the government to strip Americans of their citizenship for even unknowingly helping a group that is connected to an organization deemed to be terrorist" against YOU.

Do you realize the concern that your wife, your four children, husbands and wives and grandchildren would go through? In effect you would be kidnapped by the government without a notice being given to the people who know you best, the very people who most likely would be able to provide you with an alibi or the foundation for an alibi.

In my mind these powers never should be authorized against an American citizen without a full and complete investigation, then a convincing appeal to at least eight judges who not afraid that they could be the next victim!

Granting these kinds of authority to our government totally abolishes the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and every other Bill that restrains the government! If you agree that government should be allowed to have this authority, then you should have lived in Germany or Russia before they reduced the government authority. Of course today, you could still live in China if you wish to live in fear of your government. I firmly believe that our government needs as many restraints against it as possible when it comes to dealing with it's own citizens.

DLfromthedesert is able to see this concern also. Why, so few of us are not wanting to live under a potential dictatorship I don't understand.

I'm sorry, but the "choice" between giving the government more power to fight terrorism (or crime) and giving up my personal freedom is nothing more than a false alternative that the left has been peddling for decades. In fact, we can walk and chew gum at the same time, i.e. we can fight crime (and terrorism) without compromising the personal freedom that each of us enjoys as Americans.

The Constitution doesn't prohibit reasonable searches and seizures, and I have seen nothing in the Patriot Act or its implementation that leads me to conclude that any of its procedures are unreasonable.

"I wish you had asked me because my concerns do not lie with what freedoms I have lost but with the POWERS GIVEN TO GOVERNMENT! This is what I find frightening.

If there had been an exclusion in the Patriot Act or in # II for American citizens I wouldn't find it so objectionable."

I agree. The part that frightens me is how many are willing to just allow government to usurp more of our rights. They can do anything they want to actual terrorist, but when old men are arrested for making a wise crack that is just ridiculous. This was some TSA or airport security worker taking out their inability to deal with a cranky customer by arresting him for upsetting their day.

The sad thing is if he was a minority, especially an M.E. looking minority, they would probably NOT have been so quick to arrest him for fear of profiling. So this is just more of an example of who stands to be the most affected--normal, white, citizens... maybe cranky citizens, but NOT terrorists.

I think what they need to have is a "Patriot training Act". Instead of making more laws limiting our rights, train the enforcement people to be better at their jobs using the laws already on the books. How many are there now? There are 20,000++++ gun laws (alone!) on the books now.

Does anyone doubt if they had been strict on immigration laws alone we would have stood the same chance to have had WTC tragedies happen? Most of those evil people would not have been in the country. Many were there PAST the limit of their visas. Lot's of someones screwed up and did not use the laws already in effect. Had they even listened to people in their own agencies it may not have happened or as severly... even with our "old" laws.

We have the Patriot Act. That did give some necessary powers, but has there been enough proof that has been insufficient in some way -- or is this just laziness? Maybe just some government bureaucrats way of getting one more piece of paper to push or another area of responsibility.

The authors of the constitution warned of this type of thing. That is even why there were so many checks and balances. That is why they deliberately LIMITED government powers and gave the rights to the PEOPLE. Why are we so ready to doubt the wisdom of those divinely inspired men?.

Oh, and I am not an anti war nut, or against authority. I just believe we have to remember the last time we saw a law--even a bad one, taken off the books. Face it, every right we cede to the government is a right lost.. pretty much forever.