does the patriot act protect or restrict our civil liberties?

Answer 1

restricts

Answer 2

The patriot act prescribes a set of activities that the government may use to surveil and apprehend suspected terrorists.

It does nothing, per se, to civil liberties, as it does not restrict the actions of private citizens. It does, however, enable the government to obtain and maintain information that had not been previously proscribed, with the intent of locating and surveiling alleged terrorists.

The arguments:
From the left: The government is going to go and figure out what you buy/read and use that information to invade your privacy.

From the right: The gathering of this profiling information will enable federal law enforcement to root out terrorists. Reducing terrorism protects your civil liberties, because, if you are dead, you don't have any.

Answer 3

Does a seatbelt protect or restrict the occupant of a car? In the overall scheme of things; some restriction may be required to give us better protection.

Answer 4

Honestly, it does both. It protects them in that it is designed to help protect us from terrorism, particularly domestic terrorism. It can potentially restrict them in that your communications, etc. might be monitored, records subpoenaed, etc., but that would only be in cases where you were engaging in suspicious activity, which frankly for the average American citizen isn't an issue at all. People who oppose the act want to make it appear as if there are stormtroopers ready to come knock down your door, but nothing is farther from the truth.

Answer 5

I think I'd rather be a cowboy.

Aloha

Answer 6

Unless you're a terrorist, you've probably noticed that it hasn't affected you one whit!!