Freedom for all

I guess it all started in 2001, we were approached with a new enemy, one that didn't care about domestic law or international lines. Yes, I think this is where I stopped loving my country, or soon after anyway. September 11th, 2001 marks a day that will live in infamy, a day that will be the staple of my generation, and hopefully a cue card of what to do and what not to do. Soon after September 11th we saw great change in the United States, that day brought about both great and utterly failed change. One terrible decision soon after was the signing of The Patriot Act, a contrived acronym for 'Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.' Now, this wasn't so much a terrible idea as it was a terrible execution of an otherwise decent idea, the problem came when it interfered with civil liberties and our constitutional freedoms.

The Patriot Act on paper looks good, and with the right speech writer and speaker it can even sound good, but let me outline a few of the problems with this specific act. First off, under 'TITLE I--ENHANCING DOMESTIC SECURITY AGAINST TERRORISM' there was 'Sec. 106. Presidential authority.' Which in so many words means the government can confiscate property from an alleged terrorist instead of following the Supreme Court's decision in the 'Brown vs. United States' decision that said that a declaration of war was not means enough to confiscate enemy property on domestic ground. The Supreme Court found that a declaration of war merely places two nations in a state of aggression, or war, but the means to confiscate property was under other sections of the government. This ability, the ability to confiscate foreign property on domestic grounds, well, it is a very powerful ability...and quite simply, one that I didn't think Bush should have nor have the ability to use.

Another issue falls under The Patriot Act as a whole, and that is the ability to spy on Americans. Under wire taps, specifically stated in 'TITLE II--ENHANCED SURVEILLANCE PROCEDURES,' here 'Sec. 201. Authority to intercept wire, oral, and electronic communications relating to terrorism.' and here 'Sec. 202. Authority to intercept wire, oral, and electronic communications relating to computer fraud and abuse offenses.' What the act fails to distinguish is simply, what is a terrorist? We have all seen the news stories of a fellow American getting harassed by police, or stopped at an airport terminal, even train stations. Pretty much, this violates our core Freedom of Speech, which is the ability to speak out against our government when we think the government isn't acting on our personal best interest.

This government has more than once in the past 10 years failed to act on our personal interest. The best example of this is the war in Iraq, which, in few words was an unjust war. This became a critical point of the current President election (Barrack Obama), that we would move from Iraq, which he has made great stride in doing so...however, we have to realize how this war came to be and why. And I simply cannot come up with a justifiable answer for that, there are plenty of theories; oil, finishing what daddy started, money, and even WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction). However, there were no WMDs found, and of course the counter-argument is that they disposed of all of them. Well, of course they did, I mean, why not? Right? Well, no. A year or two after the war the CIA reported that there were no WMDs found in Iraq. Again, I have no theory as to why the war was started in Iraq, all I do know is that it was a complete and utter failure.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6190720/
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/06/iraq.wmd.report/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3718150.stm
http://epic.org/privacy/terrorism/hr3162.html

More to come, I used to love my country.

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