Is it a mild form of Communism?
2007-07-31 08:59:10 · 13 answers · asked by David W 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
No, for several reasons.
First, I've actually read the text of the law, so my conclusions are based on the actual law, nor urban legend.
Second, communism is about community property ownership. Nothing in the Patriot Act talks about property ownership at all, except for parts of Title III-A, which provide full due process protections for any seizure.
Third, nothing in the Patriot Act (except one provision already struck down in 2004) impinges on constitutional issues. The most obnoxious provision are the National Security Letters (NSL) which allow govt access to library and utility records. However, the courts long ago ruled that we have no reasonable expectation of privacy in information that is available to a large subset of the population. NSLs can only get at the same information that any library volunteer or utility company clerk can access already.
There are many other programs that are truly terrifying in terms of the power that the Bush regime is trying to claim. But compared to theses, the Patriot Act itself is just an annoyance. It's those other programs (MCA, TSP, warrantless wiretapping, etc) that are the bigger threats.
2007-07-31 09:05:06 · answer #1 · answered by coragryph 7 · 5⤊ 1⤋
No, it has nothing in common with communism...Communism is a form of government. The Patriot act is a tool for law enforcement to track and apprehend terrorists. Hopefully before they kill innocent people. There are some disturbing sides to this and I for one, hate government infringement on our percieved "rights." When all is said and done, I prefer Jeffersons(or was it Franklin?) approach paraphrased here " a man who would trade liberty for safety deserves neither."
2007-07-31 09:15:34 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
communism is more an economic philosophy, but i think you're really refering to the totalitarian regimes that ran the soveit union for so long. to that i would agree. reminds me also of the state security policies of the nazis in the 30s and 40s.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." ~ Ben Franklin
2007-07-31 09:18:10 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's about the principle of the matter. I'm not a criminal and I have nothing to hide, but to give the government the power to spy on you and possibly fabricate charges on someone based on an unconstitutional method is completely unAmerican. It's kind of ironic how they call it the "patriot act" when it takes away our rights as Patriotic Americans. I bet Karl Rove came up with the name for this one. He likes putting backwards spin on everything to fool the American people. Kind of like the "No child left behind act" That act has left more children behind than ever before.
2007-07-31 09:07:57 · answer #4 · answered by Eisbär 7 · 5⤊ 1⤋
I love these answers. Simply put programs such as warrantless wire tapping allow the government to take a step around the constitution. EVEN IF the person in charge right now was fully one hundred percent trustable, the next guy probably wouldn't be.
2007-07-31 09:08:29 · answer #5 · answered by Memnoch 4 · 3⤊ 1⤋
it terrifies me about my civil liberties, and its more like fascism than communism. communism is an economic philosophy, fascism is the political restrictive philosophy that can make communism so very bad.
2007-07-31 09:33:07 · answer #6 · answered by bluestareyed 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's more fascism than communism. You should be very scared when they start tapping your phones and reading your e-mails. Even if you have nothing to hide.
2007-07-31 09:07:57 · answer #7 · answered by Robert O 2 · 5⤊ 1⤋
It does not scare me. I have nothing to hide. And it is not communism at all.
2007-07-31 09:01:44 · answer #8 · answered by ItsJustMe 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋
More like totalitarianism.
What really scares me is that nobody in the congress or senate bothered to read it before signing it.
2007-07-31 09:05:48 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 3⤋
To all of those who've answered that the law doesn't affect them and they have nothing to hide, please post your social security numbers, date of birth and a DNA sample to this posting immediately. Thank you.
2007-07-31 09:08:19 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋