Patriot Act Pros And Cons

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Political Science 201 Patriot Act Dalton Potts Professor Trokkos Spring 2015 The USA Patriot Act The United States of America responded quickly with a bundle of drastic measures as a result of the attacks on September 11, 2001 as well as the anthrax attacks one week later. The country had been attacked and forced to unite in order to fight the enemy and protect the homeland. The response by the American government was to find a solution that would protect the American people. On October 26, 2001, President George W. Bush put the USA Patriot Act in order to intercept and eliminate future terrorist attacks in the United States (Burney). The USA Patriot Act was passed by congress and signed in to law within only a couple days after its introduction.…show more content…
These acts place restrictions on human rights, however they provide a safe living environment for the citizens. In a democratic nation, the citizens had thought that they had the right to all civil liberties and personal freedoms. They did not know that during a time of a threat to the welfare of the nation the rights of the people could be revoked or limited in the interest of national security. In order to have a protected nation, the inhabitants must understand that the government has the right to infringe on personal privacy during an escalated period of national security. An example of an early form of surveillance were the Palmer Raids of the 1919-1920. The Palmer Raids were conducted to capture the radical anarchists of the nation and deport them (May). Any activity that occurs within the boundaries of the American borders is suspect to search by the government if there is a suspected threat to the American people. This act suspended and limited the level of human rights of the American people. The government felt that this magnitude of heightened security was necessary to deter possible terrorist threats. Many Americans understood that to live in the land of the free and maintain those certain freedoms, some rights must be limited for welfare of the…show more content…
The government had been storing phone records of personal phone calls of all of the American people. Many Americans believed that this infringed on their right to privacy. As the outrage by the majority of Americans had gained news covered and the attention of the international community a federal investigation had been established. The court case had found that the United States government had violated the rights of the American people and did not have a right to record personal data of individuals whom were not suspected of any crime. This decision made by the court put an abrupt halt to the actions by the government and their current investigations. Many reasons were brought forth to provide valid reasoning regarding the mass gathering of information however, not one terrorist attack had been avoided due to the government activity. The governments only reason for the mass surveillance had not proven to be affective within society. This news to the public had caused outrage considering an invasion of privacy had affected the whole population of Americans. The nation’s citizens lost trust of the government and demanded a revision of the Patriot

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