By Cliff Montgomery – Oct. 10th, 2009
Three provisions of the Bush-era Anti-Patriot Act are set to expire on December 31st – Congress currently is debating controversial legislation to renew them.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a fine study of the so-called ‘Patriot’ Act in March of this year–Reclaiming Patriotism: A Call To Reconsider The ‘Patriot’ Act.
The report provides an easy-to-understand explanation of how that law unjustly expands the surveillance power of the U.S. government, and how that expansion tramples on Americans’ right to privacy–a fundamental individual right for any democracy.
Below, the American Spark provides readers with quotes from the study:
“On October 26, 2001, amid the climate of fear and uncertainty that followed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush signed into law the USA Patriot Act, and fundamentally altered the relationship Americans share with their government.
“This act betrayed the confidence the framers of the Constitution had that a government bounded by the law would be strong enough to defend the liberties they so bravely struggled to achieve.
“By expanding the government’s authority to secretly search private records and monitor communications, often without any evidence of wrongdoing, the Patriot Act eroded our most basic right – the freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into our private lives – and thwarted constitutional checks and balances.
“Put very simply, under the Patriot Act the government now has the right to know what you’re doing, but you have no right to know what it’s doing.
“More than seven years after its implementation there is little evidence that the Patriot Act has been effective in making America more secure from terrorists.
“However, there are many unfortunate examples that the government abused these authorities in ways that both violate the rights of innocent people and squander precious security resources.
“Three Patriot Act-related surveillance provisions will expire in December 2009, which will give the 111th Congress an opportunity to review and thoroughly evaluate all Patriot Act authorities – as well as any other post- 9/11 domestic intelligence programs – and rescind, repeal or modify provisions that are unused, ineffective or prone to abuse.
“The American Civil Liberties Union encourages Congress to exercise its oversight powers fully, to restore effective checks on executive branch surveillance powers and to prohibit unreasonable searches and seizures of private information without probable cause based on particularized suspicion.”
