So awhile ago I wrote a blog about how much I hated the Patriot Act and that still stands, but yesterday I finished up my 6 page report on the workings and opinions with some additional supporting facts. Now I could post the whole thing, but lets be honest, nobodys going to get passed the first couple of lines because you have short attention spans. Instead I'm just going to post my conclusion, its the best part anyways. Oh you may have noticed that I've changed my point of view on the acts a little bit, deal with it, It'll probably happen again anyways. Most of the points of my old article still stand though, just not my conclusion.
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The Patriot Act is a highly controversial set of laws not only because of it's own doing, but because of an underlying schism that has been in America since its own beginning. Since America was built on an idea of freedom, explained relatively vaguely in the Bill of Rights, citizens of different points of view have opposing ideas about where the limit should be between freedom and safety.
There are those who strive for their individual freedom more, who are willing to trade in security for their freedom while there are others who would much rather trade some of their freedoms so that their government can protect them better. I fall in with the former category the best but not whole-heartedly, in my point of view I would rather take my chances with terrorists than have to fear the people who are supposed to be protecting me. At the same time however I am plagued by the thought that even if total freedom were given, it would still be hard to practice that freedom in a world without order. Compassionate anarchists can say what they want about the centrally good nature of people, there are always going to be some people that want to hurt or at least take advantage of people weaker then themselves. I also have to take into consideration the feelings of my close friends and family, and how I would feel if any of them were hurt in a terrorist attack.
With these thoughts in mind to me it becomes apparent that the system of investigation before the 9/11 attacks was flawed and a repair on that system was needed. The Patriot Act however has gone to far, it has broken too many freedoms that Americans have held to so tightly since the establishment of the Constitution. We only need to look back to the Alien and Sedition acts of 1917, and McCarthyism to see what happens when the government attains to much power and oversteps its boundaries. The Patriot Act should not be repealed in its entirety, its purpose is clear, the intelligence institution in this country needed to be re-examined. Instead we need to build in new limitations in the law so that America can continue with what it was built on, Civil Liberties.
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That's probably the nicest post that I'll ever put up here, enjoy it I'll be back to my old self soon.
PS -Read this money for Katria recover coming out of welfare, its ridiculously biased but it has some huge relevance, and its disgusting.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
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4 comments:
Emmmm?
"we need to build in new limitations in the law so that America can withhold what it was built on, Civil Liberties."
So that America can withhold civil liberties? Is that your aim? Or a typo?
Also, give me a scenario where there could be any such thing as a terrorist attack in an anarchist world. I'm not fully certain - but i don't think there could be terrorism without governments and other powerful institutions to direct it against...
(woo hoo! we've discovered how to win the "war against terror"!)
typo yes, I'm stoopid sometimes..most of the time.
I didn't so much mean a terrorist attack on a country really, but killing or otherwise taking away of peoples rights thru fear. See as of now I wouldn't call myself an anarchist at all, but I really am still ignorant of many of the details and ideas out there. Never know what is to come tho..
Hallo again - i did check in again and i didn't know what to say - dissappointed that you might no longer consider yrself an anarchist! Was looking at a lecture your compatriot Noam Chomsky gave in the university I used to attend, when i thought about you:
Follow link to Tuesday lecture on http://www.ucd.ie/news/jan06/011306_chomsky.htm
or go direct to
http://www.heanet.ie/services/multimedia/videostreaming
/ucd/chomsky/chomsky_20060117_video.asx
In general he is talking about the "messianic mission" of governments like those of the US and Great Britain to bring democracy to certain countries. By careful and clear example throughout the lecture, he shows that while they have recently been using this as an excuse for their foreign policies, they are blatantly not trying to bring democracy but have actually subverted it in many cases. Anyway, you probably won't sit through the whole thing but I thought of you here where talking about the Lebanon he touches on our definitions of terorism... 44min24sec (tho not saying this the most interesting part of the lecture - jst where what u said came to mind).
Also here where during the q&a session he talks about the culture of fear in the U.S. 1hr28min44sec. He's easier to listen to when he's off the cuff; bless his drone.
In solidarity.
Shine
I haven't gotten a chance to watch that yet, been quite busy, will as soon as I can. If you ever want to debate or share stuff feel free to email me funkymonk@adelphia.net .
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