Patriot Act

[RookieBeotch]

I am to debate this topic in a class, and of course I'll be doing alot of research but I also wanted to get some imput from some real people instead of just reading articles, and I know this is probably a topic some people probably have strong feelings towards one way or the other. So lets hear it, your Pro's and Con's and feelings on the PATRIOT Act.

 

[SID297]

It's bad.

 

[virginiafiveo]

sid, they are gonna arrest you for that :lol:

 

[wally9404]

bush created this to spy on un american activity. yeah right!!

 

[RFH]

dont even get me started on this fine piece of neocon bs

its a way for the federal govt to take away our rights in the name of "terrorism"

This is why I will NEVER vote for a republican EVER... FU Bush!!!!!!

 

[Ry_Trapp0]

i have nothing to hide, i dont see the big deal.

 

[wally9404]

i have nothing to hide, i dont see the big deal.

your 19 years old! you wouldn't understand!!

 

[aaandht]

your 19 years old! you wouldn't understand!!

And 45 year olds say the same to 19 year olds who feel the patriot act is bad.

 

[Rochard]

i have nothing to hide, i dont see the big deal.

I agree.

I'm 39 years old and I work in the porn industry. I have nothing to hide. Cops are welcome in my house any time (free donuts!) as is any law enforcement.

In fact, I wish they would sit out in their car on my street 24/7. Keeps the bad guys away.

They can read my email and record my phone conversations all they want.

We like to have a "right to privacy". Why? If the US Government wants to know how many different positions I used to nail my g/f during my lunch - more power to them!

 

[RDJ]

I view the patriot act as a necessary evil. In today's world the bad guys have access to the same technology as the good guys and they are using America's paranoia to accomplish their mission. My personal feeling is that if I have to give up a bit of privacy in order to keep my ass safe .. I have no issues with it.

 

[Ry_Trapp0]

exactly! go ahead, tap the phone lines, if you want to hear me talk about girls and money(well, the need for both!).

i have no problem at all giving up some privacy so my life, as well as others of this country, are safe.

the only people who need to be worried about this are the pedophiles and the animal ****ers.

 

[03InDisguise]

haha, beastiality! Bumb:lol:

 

[PERCULATOR]

exactly! go ahead, tap the phone lines, if you want to hear me talk about girls and money(well, the need for both!).

i have no problem at all giving up some privacy so my life, as well as others of this country, are safe.

the only people who need to be worried about this are the pedophiles and the animal ****ers.

+1 on your thoughts.

 

[SNCBOOM]

Just another way for the gov't to control something else. Libertarians FTW

 

[SNCBOOM]

double post FTL

 

[Mach1USMC]

your 19 years old! you wouldn't understand!!

I'm 37 and I don't think it's a big deal either. If you read what the program is actually about and don't buy into all the liberal hype you'd know that there has to be foundation to justify the wiretap. You all act as if they pull names out of a hat randomly and tap their communications. Nothing could be further from the truth. Don't you want terrorists and people who associate/assist terrorists to be watched?

 

[exdeath]

"Those who would sacrifice essential liberties for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin

You've only got nothing to hide until the government suddenly decides, without your consent, that one of the legal things you were doing that you didn't need to hide is suddenly illegal on the basis of one officials opinion and value judgment. Tell me if Gore or Clinton got into office and cars over 50 HP were banned and guns were banned that you would immediately comply and hand them both over...

It would be more effective to allow armed citizens to protect themselves on planes than to spy on and arrest and interrogate American citizens for smuggling sporks and shampoo onto planes. We already have homeland security built into the Constitution courtesy of the first and second amendments; the right to assemble and the right to bear arms. Instead some of us continue to believe that we don't need guns, that we can't be responsible for ourselves, that the weak and stupid shouldn't be allowed to win their Darwin awards, and the the government should do it all for us. ****GAAAAAGGGG****

Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, all that crap is just more unconstitutional government bureaucracy that will waste money, achieve nothing, start finding it's own reasons to exist when it is no longer needed, become complacent, and be impossible to ever challenge or disband, much like the IRS, ATF, etc...

When did government become synonymous with "guys in suits and guns that have authority to tell you what to do" and stop being "of the people, by the people, and for the people"? When did being a politician become a life time career in and of itself and not farmers, police, teachers, and doctors volunteering to go to the Capitol to represent their communities once a year? When the **** did we start fearing the absolute authority and power of a government official or look up to them as if they were omnipotent and untouchable and a different class of citizen than we the people? Like this jackass in the news that tried that "don't you know who I am I'm a US Senator you can't arrest me har har har!"

Heres a big F**K YOU to that!

This is America, wake up you ****ing sheep!!!! Our government should be looking up at us, we should not be looking up at them like underprivileged subjects!

Also found this:

I believe a good example of this is massive citizen surveillance. It'll give you a little temporary safety for as long as it takes the criminals to notice the surveillance cams. Shortly thereafter, criminals simply find ways around the surveillance cameras, and now criminals are still criminals, but honest citizens no longer have any privacy.

The same could be said for gun control. Outlawing guns will only give you some temporary safety as long it takes for the criminals to get guns illegally. So now criminals still have guns, but you, as a citizen, have lost a very essential liberty, and have also lost a massive amount of safety in losing the ability to protect yourself with weapons to match those of the criminals.

This quote deeply has its roots in Social Contract Theory, one of the founding principles of the US. Social Contract Theory is a theory explaining the origin of government. It explains that government originated from small tribes that formed laws through mutual agreement that everyone in the tribe would have to abide by in order to assure group survival. For example, everyone would agree to not kill people. A tribesman would vote for this even though it was limiting his rights, because he knows that it also limits everyone else's rights and makes sure no one will kill him.

Sacrificing your liberties for temporary safeties defeats the whole purpose. You've now given up a right, without guaranteeing that other people will be denied that right as long as you are. This in the long run makes you less safe, rather than more safe, because in the end you have less rights and other people have more. This endangers your life, and possibly others, completely ruining the system. Worse, these events can begin to establish precedence, making minds less resistant to them.

On the other hand, if you go strictly by this node title, then you are an anarchist. Because government is designed to do just that; remove liberties to provide security (paradoxically, the security might be insuring that you have liberty in the future).

 

[Mach1USMC]

dbl post

 

[SNCBOOM]

I'm 37 and I don't think it's a big deal either. If you read what the program is actually about and don't by into all the liberal hype you'd know that there has to be foundation to justify the wiretap. You all act as if they pull names out of a hat randomly and tap their communications. Nothing could be further from the truth. Don't you want terrorists and people who associate/assist terrorists to be watched?

This is coming from the same administration that said there were WMD's in Iraq. I'm not a liberal, I'm not a republican and I really don't even consider myself affiliated with any political group. But when people stop questioning WHY the gov't is doing what it's doing then we're all doomed. Personally, I prefer a less intrusive gov't but hey...if you like a know all gov't you should have been in Germany several years back.

 

[04PBMGTO]

"Those who would sacrifice essential liberties for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin

Im sure he said that as people were blowing themselves up in the name of Allah.