Life & Liberty Essay -- essays research papers fc

Life and LibertyA poster of rights are what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse. doubting Thomas Jefferson 1781There has been no abuse of rights, and sometimes we must weigh rights against responsibilities. -Attorney General John Ashcroft 2004Since our founding fathers first drafted a constitution, Americas core set have been life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness without interference from the government. For the better part of two hundred years, Americans have focused on developing a fair and plain democracy, in which everyone has an equal say and as many individual rights and freedoms as are possible in an effective society. Every once in a while, (America fights a major war about every twenty years on average.) improving and maintaining democracy falls into the shadows, and protecting what we have created becomes Americans foremost concern.The U.S.A. Patriot Act was passed on October 26, 2001, with almost no oppo sition from Congress. (Senate 98-1, House of Representatives 357-66.)(Life & Liberty) The country was still shaken by the event of folk the 11th. In fact while the bill was in deliberation, there was almost no opposition of any kind from special interest groups or organizations nationwide. Once the bill was enacted, two distinct sides were formed, one side confident that any loss of privacy was worth ensuring our safety and protecting our free democracy, and the other side questioning whether the assurance of safety was worth trading away our personal freedoms and right to privacy piece by piece.The three-hundred forty-two page Patriot Act effect many American institutions, from local laws and civil policies all the way up to the Constitution, and most controversially, the Bill of Rights. The Bush administration maintains that the Act is an instrumental device in counteracting terrorism. They point to Sections 203 through 211 of the bill (Evergreen, Title II), which change the way info... ...ely (PIPA). With varied poll results like these, it is easy to resolve that the American public is wholly timid of how the Patriot Act affects them. While the Bush administration seeks to calm Americans and assure them that the Act protects our freedoms, groups like the ACLU seek to frighten and enrage Americans, alerting them to what freedoms have been interpreted away. With 62% of Americans still in the dark about what the USA Patriot Act actually means and does (Gallup), this is a battle that surely will not end soon. Works CitedEvergreen State College Official legal summary of the USA Patriot Act, February 14, 2003Gallup Polling Organization poll conducted August through September 2003, released September 6, 2003On-Air interview with Larry King October 21, 2004, taken from cnn.com Supreme Court case decisions taken from lawlibrary.com/supremecourt Letters of Thomas Jefferson, 1781, Virginia State Library FoundationCongress vote results taken from Life&Liberty.gov PIPA (Program on International Policy Attitudes and the Center for International and Security Studies) University of Maryland. Poll conducted August through September 2003, released September 18, 2003.