The Patriot Act: Just or Just a Major Violation of Our Constitutional Rights?

The Patriot Act: Just or Just a Major Violation of Our Constitutional Rights?

After the devastating acts of the Muslim terrorists on 9/11, the president issued an Executive order known as HR 3162, or the inaptly named "USA PATRIOT Act" (which stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism"). Or so he would have the public believe. The Patriot Act was actually an extremely radical bill created by John Ashcroft months before 9/11. It had all of the radical Bill of Rights violating content that everyone has come to know and hate (well, not everyone, just the non-ignorant ones). But this bill was too radical, even for fellow supporters of Bush's regime. Ashcroft anticipated this, and included in the bill was a statement that, and I'm paraphrasing, "only in a time of great American tragedy could this bill be instated."

Screenchot of USA PATRIOT Act (German Wikipedia)

President George W. Bush addresses an audience Wed...

English: U.S. Senator Russ Feingold spoke on the S...

Ashcroft must have thought he hit the jackpot a few months later when the Boeing 747's took the lives of countless innocent American citizens, allowing justification for his bill. Bush proclaimed that he would "do everything in his power to protect the American people." Maybe it's because I live in the desolate mountain town Pollock Pines, but my definition of "protection" is pretty distant from my definitions of "unlawful actions" and "screw the Bill of Rights".

Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous quote "There is nothing to fear but fear itself," should remind people that fear is unhealthy, but for some reason, people in general do not seem to be as smart as they used to be. Bush knows this, or at least the people who help him with his "strategery" know this, and they have formed a plan upon that information. Instead of trying to help his fellow Americans, Bush...