At Ask Me Help Desk you can ask questions in any topic and have them
answered for free by our experts. To ask questions or participate in
answering them you must register for a free account. By registering you
will be able to:
Get free answers from experts in any of our 300+
topics.
Is it just me or does the patriot act oddly resemble the enabling act?
“Restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press; on the rights of assembly and association; and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications; and warrants for house searchers, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.” -from The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Book Two, "Triumph and Consolidation" by William Shirer
P.s. please don't think me un-american, this question was asked to me and I don't know anything about it. Just thought it would be a great question..
As someone said, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. On one hand, governments by their nature have similar tendencies; in the question you raise, it is the police power. On the other hand, the U.S. constitution seeks to protect individual sovereignty, and I don't know that the Nazis attempted such a facade; the Third Reich was all about drawing power unto itself and its Leader. Forget its name, the purpose of the Patriot Act is to provide protection from terrorists to millions of American citizens and others. Reasonable people will disagree about the application of the law.
Who is supposed to stop them from using their 'policies' on not just terrorists, but it's own citizens? My personal opinion is that the war on terror cannot be won, because no matter how many 'terrorists' we kill, there will always be someone somewhere who doesn't like the way things are in the world and are willing to kill themselves and whoever else to show it. There will ALWAYS be senseless violence, there will always be someone who hates America and Americans, hates you, me, my mom, my little brother, mine and your family (sight unseen) and no matter how or for how long we combat this, it will never change...
Did you read the Patriot Act ? The worse thing about it is it's silly Orwellian name . Primarily the law addressed one of the biggest deficiences identified in the break down of intelligence prior to the 9-11 attacks ; the wall that has separated intelligence gathering from criminal investigation.
It allows intelligence information to be shared with criminal investigators, and information that criminal investigators unearth to be shared with those conducting intelligence investigations. Bureaucratic decisions and a misreading of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for years made this impossible .
The misinformation about the act is amazing. The Patriot Act passed both houses of Congress with wide public support.It has for the most part passed judicial challenges and some of the most widely publicized concerns about it like the Library records have proven to be misplaced hysteria.
If we are to lose our civil liberties, it won’t be all of sudden due to Patriot-Act zealots in sunglasses and flying black helicopters who are trying to do their sworn duty to defend our liberties ; but rather incrementally by egalitarian professors,crusaders, journalists, and government bureaucrats ,all unhappy that the evolution of constitutional change is too slow and inconvenient for their desire to impose their vision of utopia on us.
People, please read my post script. I'm not a politician and was asked this by someone, didn't know anything about it because i'm not a politician or a terrorist, therefore have not had a 'run-in' with the patriot act and thought i'd ask about it on here. However my concern is that, the 'secret' government agencies we've all heard and read about have been using their surveillance and other techniques to 'keep an eye on' american citizens since Hoover was in office, as I have said elsewhere, and they continue to use misinformation to discredit what they see as the 'left'. Anything against their idea of what America should be.
Watch, or look up, "Steal This Movie". You would do better to watch it I suppose. So, I would like to know how anyone would know if they were being 'surveilled' by the government simply for their stance on certain laws or for their ideas, especially those willing to speak out for what they believe is right, and what the government does not want citizens to know. Crap like Area 51 (i'm not a 'the truth is out there' type person, don't get me wrong), who shot Kennedy, and similar 'unsolved' or confidential things. What about the activist (whose name fails me at the moment) that was imprisoned for YEARS on possession of a joint, during the time of John Lennon and the protests. The government revoked John's passport to delay his coming to America to participate and play a show for a protest gathering.
Bedell writes: "...as I have said elsewhere, and they continue to use misinformation to discredit what they see as the 'left'...."
My view of the Left is that one needs no 'misinformation' to discredit them or their positions; they do a wonderful job all by themselves. One can reasonably argue that the greatest amount of personal freedom and liberty was enjoyed in the U.S. at the time the constitution was approved in 1787, or with passage of the Bill of Rights, 1789. Personal freedom and liberty has been on a downswing ever since, with huge speed-ups during the Lincoln and FDR Administrations. The 'sky isn't falling' because of the Patriot Act.
Did you know that Thomas Jefferson called for a revolution every 10 years just to keep the Goverment on their toes? Seems we're a couple hundred years due, don't you think? And what about the Former White House Aide speaking out against Bush and his Administration?
I know I'm not the only one that feels this way about our goverment. Patriot Act aside, our government is CORRUPT and you know it.
as I have said elsewhere, and they continue to use misinformation to discredit what they see as the 'left'
Wait until you have to walk around wth personal carbon credit cards in an attempt to ration personal energy usage .You think I'm kidding ? The left in England has already proposed that. Do you not see that the left is more likely to facilitate the erosion of personal liberty ? Obama pretty much has been spelling it out . We can't drive what we want ;can't eat what we want;can't keep our homes at temperatures we want. He is promoting personal sacrifice for the collective good in stump speeches . Who is the greater threat ? ....the politician who uses the intelligence agencies to secure the country from attack ;or the politician who would create a nanny state to take care of you from cradle to grave ?
Personal freedom and liberty has been on a downswing ever since, with huge speed-ups during the Lincoln and FDR Administrations. The 'sky isn't falling' because of the Patriot Act.
So because we have been in a downswing means we should just roll over? What about all the new regulations I keep hearing about in the airports? You can't bring more that a small amount of shampoo on the plane? When did the terrorists take planes over with shampoo? When did the terrorists start resembling the young woman that get singled out just so they can pat them down? We're supposed to accept this kind of treatment to feel safe? I'm sorry but we can never feel safe again. Not only from these terrorists but from our own government that continually removes our rights and freedoms. A perfect example is the Texas religious sect that without regard had their children abducted from them by our government. Imagine the government coming to your neighborhood and taking every child without question. Does that seem right? How many examples do we need? Ruby Ridge? Waco? What will it take before we wake up and realize that our government is all about getting and keeping power? Who cares who wins the White House. Every last one of them is exactly like the other.
Linear Mode
