Quote:
Originally posted by theking
The Patriot Act is to help protect US citizens from the bad guys (remember 9/11). If every aspect of the Patriot Act were to be upheld by a court challenge...in theory it only hurts the bad guys...not the good guys. Will there be an occasional abuse of the power...absolutely...and abuses will be addressed when this happens.
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The Patriot Act "in theory" hurt anyone opposing whatever government is currently in power, as it makes it trivially easy for someone in power to abuse their position to weaken opposition. While many people think the current US government is full of complete idiots (few US presidents have ever been seen as so dangerous and so clueless by the international public except perhaps for Reagan), any abuse from the current government is likely to be relatively light.
But what if the law stays? Are you willing to take the risk of what might happen if some government 20, 30 or 40 years from now decides to abuse their powers? Not only that, but are you willing to take the risk that these power grabs from the government acts as a magnet for people that would like to use those powers for their own goals?
Restricting the powers of a government should NEVER be done based on "but if used right, their new powers will give great results" basis. It should be used on the basis "if we grant these powers now, and somebody decides to abuse them, how much damage can they possibly do?" basis.
Think of any of your favorite dictators, and ask yourself "How much damage could that person do with this law?". Read a good history book and see how many dictators had massive public support when they first grabbed power.
If someone is elected in the next election, and decides to abuse the Patriot Act, how many lives can he destroy? Whats the chance it can be used to destroy democratic institutions and destroy the opposition, or at least massively weakening them? (Look at Zimbabwe for a good example of what something as simple as control over infrastructure and food distribution can do in a less fortunate country)
Lunatics are born every day - do you want a country with laws that protect you against them, or provide them with weapons, whether they are inside or outside government?
Laws like the patriot act may protect you against lunatics outside government, but they can also be a tremendous weapon for someone who wishes to weaken or stamp out democracy.
In effect, they're a huge victory for the 9/11 terrorists: The terrorists managed to take away more freedom from Americans in the form of new overreaching laws and regulations than they could ever have hoped for achieving in any other way.