Was the Patriot Act necessary to improve security?

[_Jumper_]

What are your thoughts on this?

[Caution]

1. if security means

ripping away from the american public some of hte most fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the constitution in order to ensure that your corporate sponsors continue to steal money hand over fist from the american people than yes it was absolutely necessary.

If on the other hand you mean to protect american people from the bogeyman of terra so that they might rest easy in the knowledge that instead of the chances of dying from terra being less than those of dying by your own hand, by being struck by lightning three times or of winning the lottery and downgrading those chances to being less than that of gravity suddenly deciding to reverse itself...well no it coudlnt even accomplish that.

[proud patriot]

2. IMHO ....nope

:-(

[Brian Sweat]

3. Did the Patriot Act improve security?

If the answer to this question is no, then clearly the answer to your question no. Even if the answer is yes, that still doesn't mean the act was necessary, but then I think it would be better to question the individual provisions of the patriot act.

[damnraddem]

4. Yes, of course, the Poortrait Act was need to improve security ...

for U.S. fascists.

[GabysPoppy]

5. Locking - rule violation

4. If you wish to start a vanity thread (ie: a discussion thread in which the sole purpose is to share your personal opinion) you must state your opinion in a non-inflammatory manner which respects differences in opinion and facilitates actual discussion.


GabysPoppy
DU Moderator

[IrateCitizen]

6. The PATRIOT Act was sitting on a shelf, waiting for an opportunity

The fact that this thing was drafted, hundreds of pages long, in such a short time immediately following 9/11/01 is suspicious in and of itself. Cripes, most Reps and Senators didn't even have the time to READ the whole damned thing before voting on it!

That right there raises red flags in my mind. Nevermind the fact that many of the provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act were actually provisions that had been long sought by right wing law enforcement groups and persons, enabling government agencies to get back to the business of spying on the people, similar to the days of COINTELPRO.

I don't think it was necessary to improve security. What it was was a blatant power grab by some folks who are extremely ill-equipped, morally speaking, to wield such power.