Law Enforcement and the Patriot Act
The scope of our law enforcement changed from that of an agency designed to protect and serve the people to an agency designed to protect and serve the government without interest in the peoples welfare. By allowing the gross manipulation of our constitution that is the Patriot Act, we have effectively denied ourselves the rights with which we grew up. Our Law Enforcement Agencies could if they so chose arrest me simply for being against the Patriot Act in a verbal and public manner. By denying me the basic fourth amendment rights as well as every other one, they as law enforcement have switched from protecting and serving to running a police state. This has been seen in many areas, such as, travel, phone conversations and even with some reporters having been placed in “protective” custody. As Benjamin Franklin so aptly put it, “If we give up our freedoms for a little temporary safety, than we deserve neither freedom nor safety!”
I am not anti United States I am however, anti- Government control to the extent they currently wield it. As an American Citizen, that has given much and lost more for this country and my freedoms, I cannot willfully give over any more of freedoms. Our law enforcement agencies must take this to task, and should not abuse the power they have been given. In fact, in many cases I feel that they should revert to the pre Patriot Act laws and regulations.
What do you feel?
Section by section I will outline why I feel the way I do.
SECTION 218 :
Allows federal agents to aqcuire warrants without the full steps normally required.
SECTION 215:
Invades my privacy regarding what I may or may not check out in a library, negates my ability to study without direct government interference. It also leads to profiling based on certain degree types.
SECTION 213:
A secret search nullifies the 4th amendment, and that is more than enough reason to have this particular law reversed. Any law that goes against our Constitutionally granted rights and liberties is wrong.
SECTION 505:
By taking a judge out of the justice system loop, we are effectively voiding the entire legal system within our country. As citizens we are afforded certain rights and liberties, however when the legal system itself no longer honors those liberties and rights we have effectively become a police action state.
SECTION 206:
Allows for the tracking of cell phones without a proper legal warrant, this again voids the 4th Amendment and almost every other amendment regarding the law.
SECTION 802:
Goes contrary to the First Amendment and are freedoms to protest illegal actions by the government.