HONESTLY, what liberties have you lost under the patriot act?

Question

I have not personally noticed any but I want to know what liberties I have lost. The patriot has been accused of taking our freedoms by many Dems. I want some examples.

Answer 1

This is a typical response to loss of liberty. If I am doing nothing wrong, why should I worry. Rights are for criminals, not for me. The problem with this logic is that this nation was founded on limited government. The founding fathers saw government as receiving power from the people. This system of government was not just a novel idea, it was believed to be a natural order of things; a relationship between people and government that would work.

To destroy the protections afforded by the constitution is to betray everything that this country stands for. To provide the government with the power to arrest and detain citizens without a hearing, to electronically monitor communications of citizens without judicial oversight, and to expedite executions without the benefit of appeal are all actions which are contradictory to the founders' intent and incompatible with a free society.

When your liberties are personally taken, its too late to argue about them. There have been cases of innocent US citizens being arrested and held without bail for long periods of time. You do not find this troubling at all?

EDIT: I like all of the people who give a thumbs down to the constitution. Its just a G*$ D#@ piece of paper anyway right?

Answer 2

How about freedom of speech? There are a number of freedom of speech issues in the various forms of the Patriot Act, but I'll just mention the one associated with National Security Letters (NSL). An NSL is a letter from the executive branch demanding information. Those receiving the letter are not allowed to tell anyone. This type of unchecked power encourages all kinds of abuse --imagine an NSL requiring information that would require huge costs, possibly even putting someone out of business. This could be used to cause trouble for people making waves for the administration. The 4th amendment protects us from unreasonable searches. Oversight by the judicial branch using such things as warrants helps to keep the executive branch in check and abuse of power minimized. You may not be affected by this particular issue yet, but this represents another nail in the coffin of our constitutional protections. Some day you will wake up and not have any rights.

Answer 3

A presidential order in 2002 allows the NSA to spy on Americans without first obtaining a warrant:

Amendment IV: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 eliminated habeas corpus:

Article 1, Section 9 of the US Constitution: The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.

Whether or not either of these has affected you personally is irrelevant. Nor does the argument that one has done nothing wrong change the fact Constitutional rights have been lost.

Answer 4

First of all it dissolves the foundation of our government , the system of checks and balances. it places too much Power in the hands of one man, that is a violation of our constitution, and regardless of whether or not it has directly affected me I consider it an insult to this country and those who fought and died for our constitution. Every Citizen of the United States who swears alegiance to the Constitution has lost rights, whether they have had first hand experience or not, is irrelevant. If someone breaks into your house and steals something and you don't notice it for a year, does that mean no one broke into your house?

I have read about police rigging cases and people being convicted and later being proven innocent.
it didn't happen to me, but it doesn't make it any less wrong.

Answer 5

Only thing the Patriot Act has done is slow down the fundies...

and implicate pederast mongrels with ties to the ACLU

Answer 6

1) David Banach was charged with temporarily blinding the pilot and co-pilot of an airplane with a laser beam, claiming he was simply using the device to look at stars with his 7-year-old daughter. Federal authorities used the Patriot Act to charge him with interfering with the operator of a mass transportation vehicle and making false statements to the FBI. If convicted, Banach could be sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined $500,000. The FBI acknowledged the incident had no connection to terrorism.

2) Denver resident Mike Maginnis was physically assaulted by Denver police during Vice President Dick Cheney's visit to the city and then held for hours while being verbally assaulted by men who represented themselves as federal agents working for the Secret Service. The latter, Maginnis claims, threatened to charge him as a "terrorist" under the USA Patriot Act. Maginnis apparently tried to phone a Denver area newspaper, only to have his phone call disconnected when authorities discovered who he was contacting.

3) Activist Bev Harris was told not to reveal to anyone the fact that she and her website were being investigated under the Patriot Act. It is illegal for a government agency to go in and demand the list of all the members of a group. And you can't investigate leaks to journalists by going in and grabbing the reporter's computer.

4) Seventh-grader John McLean, a 12-year-old kid at Boys' Latin middle school, researches a paper on the Bay Bridge, and suddenly the Joint Terrorist Task Force shows up in the headmaster's office.

5) In May 2004, Brandon Mayfield, an attorney in Portland, Ore., and a convert to Islam, was arrested in connection with the March 11, 2004, Madrid bombings that left 191 people dead. He was held for two weeks as a "material witness."

Mayfield was released after the FBI admitted his fingerprint had been mistakenly matched with one found at the scene of the Madrid attacks.

But the government has admitted to Mayfield that his home was searched secretly under a special court order authorized for intelligence purposes, when if fact agents were looking for evidence to use in a criminal prosecution

Answer 7

God only knows what could have happened to Americans had this 'act' been in place during the McCarthy era. Trouble is that it opens the door for tremendous abuse by the government in the future.

Answer 8

Hey you give up all the freedoms you like buddy I won't give mine up because I believe in the constitution I guess you don't.

Answer 9

Melodramatic liberals have lost NO civil liberties. And for them to contend that Bush is a dictator, is quite frankly, stupid on their part.

Answer 10

They won't give you any. All they ever do, is play the victim card. The real question is, why do democrats engage in criminal behavior against GOP offices and candidates?