Life & Liberty

Life and Liberty

"A bill of rights are what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse." -Thomas Jefferson 1781

"There has been no abuse of rights, and sometimes we must weigh rights against responsibilities." -Attorney General John Ashcroft 2004

Since our founding fathers first drafted a constitution, America's core values have been life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; without interference from the government. For the better part of two hundred years, Americans have focused on developing a fair and free democracy, in which everyone has an equal say and as many individual rights and freedoms as are possible in an effective society. Every once in a while, (America fights a major war about every twenty years on average.) improving and maintaining democracy falls into the shadows, and protecting what we have created becomes American's foremost concern.

The U.S.A. Patriot Act was passed on October 26, 2001, with almost no opposition from Congress. (Senate 98-1, House of Representatives 357-66.)(Life & Liberty) The country was still shaken by the event of September the 11th. In fact while the bill was in deliberation, there was almost no opposition of any kind from special interest groups or organizations nationwide. Once the bill was enacted, two distinct sides were formed, one side confident that any loss of privacy was worth ensuring our safety and protecting our free democracy, and the other side questioning whether the assurance of safety was worth trading away our personal freedoms and right to privacy piece by piece.

The three-hundred forty-two page Patriot Act effects many American institutions, from local laws and civil policies all the way up to the Constitution, and most controversially, the Bill of Rights. The Bush administration maintains that the Act is an instrumental device in counteracting terrorism. They point to Sections 203 through 211 of the bill (Evergreen, Title II), which change the way information is shared among law enforcement agencies, local, state and federal. Information that was previously kept confidential and case specific is now to be relegated freely between local and state law authorities, the FBI, ATF, DEA, CIA, and the Department of Homeland Security. This is said by the administration to be an enormous step in preventing and tracking terrorists and domestic criminals alike.

According to recent polls (Gallup), 58% of Americans believe the Patriot Act is strictly beneficial to our country. There is however, a large minority of Americans who have many with the stipulations the Patriot Act in retrospect to our personal freedoms and right to privacy (Gallup).

Many groups, the largest and most powerful of which being the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the American Library Association (ALA), question the need to impose so much on our privacy. Section 215 of The Patriot Act (and several other provisions) significantly expands the right American's reading and Internet viewing habits (Evergreen). This section of the bill was met with great opposition, considering its direct imposition on Americans right to privacy. Another section of the bill falling into this category is 225, which expressly permits roving wiretaps, which were previously deemed unconstitutional by the New York State and Federal Supreme Courts (Law library). Roving Wiretaps allow law enforcement agents to follow and trace the phone activities of any one who has a telephone connection (either called or has been called) with someone with an original, legal wiretap. This section of the bill gives law enforcement greater latitude in how they can monitor wireless (cellular and digital) phone calls, and what they can do with that information once obtained.

Another extremely controversial provision of the Patriot Act was that in Section 904, allowing investigation of any American citizen, without probable cause or even reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed. Unlimited investigation and up to a seventy-two day detention is permitted as long as the inquiry can be considered "intelligence gathering" (Evergreen, Title IV). Non-citizens can in fact be detained indefinitely, on the order of the attorney general, without the necessity of proving they are an immediate flight risk.

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