In the past, I have been a very clear opponent to the Patriot Act's overreach of governmental power to degrade the privacy of United States citizens to nothing but a distant memory. However, this attitude is one I share with the vast majority of American citizens, many of whom feel as though they have been cheated out of their rights.
However, if this was as open and close as giving the citizens what they want, this would no longer even be a debate. Instead, while the people are bipartisan in agreement that the Patriot Act is threatening to American rights, most representatives are bipartisan in agreement that the Patriot Act is all that stands between our country and utter destruction via Jihadist terrorism (Despite the repetitively surfaced evidence that the Patriot Act has not played a major role in the obstruction of any terrorist plots).
Presidential candidate and Republican Kentucky Senator Rand Paul took to the floor of the Senate in outright protest of the Patriot Act.
“There comes a time in the history of nations when fear and complacency allow power to accumulate and liberty and privacy to suffer,” he began. “That time is now, and I will not let the Patriot Act, the most unpatriotic of acts, go unchallenged.”Once Rand began his speech, Rand Paul's campaign sent out an email to his supporters stating Rand "would not yield one inch in this fight so long as my legs can stand". While I typically find myself more left than typical republican policies, I truly believe Rand's message here is noble enough.
The Patriot Act, among other laws, was a knee jerk reaction after 9/11. There is no doubt that the attack on the World Trade Center was a very dark period in our history, and it caused a lot of unfortunate outcomes, including widespread racism, another decade of war, and the self-induced suspension of rights through laws such as these. We were scared.
Here we were a relatively young nation, suddenly recognizing, almost all at once, how many enemies we actually had in the world. We were abruptly made aware of just how vulnerable we were, and we froze in terror. So, we were instantly prepared to stand by and sign away liberty to make sure we never had to experience such tragedy again. However, we'd forgotten one lesson that the Founding Fathers of the United States echoed repetitively; Freedom is dangerous. But no matter what attacks and lashes may come, it is still worth knowing that the next generation of children we raise will grow up in a nation where it is okay to question, and it is permissible to recognize the flaws of their authority. We can make a world where knowledge is power, not criminal.
It is for these reasons that I am utterly appalled at the behavior of our leaders: the President and our Congressmen. Barack Obama's released speech on the subject left me in shock, as he stated "our enemies will not stop trying to attack us at midnight" (referring to the midnight expatriation date of the Patriot Act). Senator McConnell's comments were even more dreadful.
“Today the Senate will vote on whether or not we should take one more tool away from those who defend this country every day,” McConnell said. “Nobody’s civil liberties are being violated here. The president’s campaign to destroy the tools used to prevent another terrorist attack has been aided by those seeking to prosecute the officers in the intelligence community, diminish our military capabilities and despicably to leak and reveal classified information, putting our nation at risk.”The fact is, these men are fear mongering in an attempt to shock Americans back into frozen terror. This all comes without beginning to mention McConnell and his Conservative allies all willingly spatting on their ruling philosophy of small government. The Patriot Act breeds government overreach. So, is it that the Senate Republicans are undoubtedly, wholeheartedly against big government... until they're not? Yes, collecting the private data of individual citizens all across the nation is what one would call "violation" of civil liberties. Why are they willing to let these liberties be trashed? Simply because they are scared. But I reiterate my statement, that freedom is dangerous, freedom is scary, but it is still worth pushing for.
In the end, Paul's efforts ultimately failed, because the Senate passed (67-32) and President Barack Obama reauthorized a large amount of the Patriot Act and renamed it the USA Freedom Act (how gung-ho of them.) and while the "new" act "attempts" to reform corrupted areas of the law, it is overbearingly futile, as government overreach still lies as the foundation issue at hand, and the law will allow it to continue.
However, eventually we will have to rise as a people and recognize how morally wrong such laws as this are, and if we want to create a truly free world for our future generations, true reform will be necessary. And I do mean real reform, not bureaucratic and crowd pleasing reform.
That's all I have to say today, but I'll be back tomorrow.
"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." -B.B. King
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