My answer is not much at all. Contrary to popular belief, we are MUCH safer than we were six years ago, and I will tell you why. How many terrorist attacks in the United States have occurred in the past six years? None. The reason: the Patriot Act. Opponents argue it takes away the freedoms of everyday Joes like you and me, but that isn't the case at all. The only people whose wires are tapped are those who are on the government watchdog list. Even if they did want to waste their time by tapping into my phone line, what exactly would they hear? I can't say that I ever remember plotting a terrorist attack, but that's just me. If the government wants to listen to me talking to my friends about where we are going to have dinner, that's great. If having this power keeps me and my fellow Americans safe, they can listen all they like. Am I saying we are completely safe? No. We will never be completely safe, but we can use all the appropriate tactics available to ensure that we can say everything possible was done to prevent this from happening again.
I might change my opinion on this if we have another attack, but so far our methods have worked, and I will believe they will continue to work until I am proven wrong. As much as Osama bin Laden would like to see "the streets run red with American blood," it cannot happen if the terrorists have no means of doing so. We, along with our President, have taken the correct stance on the issue and must continue to stay on the offensive in order to truly win this War on Terror.
3 comments:
I agree with you that there has been some good in the Patriot Act. The main reason being that the government is trying to prevent future terrorist attacks and hopefully have done so with this piece of legislation. However, I'm not sure that we are safer than we were prior to 9/11. We're still in Iraq and some citizens in that country, and the main subject of your post, still want to kill most, if not all, Americans. I just hope that the war will be over soon and that our government will continue to do all that it can to keep our country safe.
I'm unsure as to whether we are actually safer or not, but no matter what freedoms are freedoms and liberty is key. I think this quote from Ben Franklin sums up my point, and is the basis for it as well: “They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security”
let me elaborate on my comment, it's to vague, I wasn't putting my exact thoughts into words at the time....something else was on my mind, I apologize.
Whether we are safer or not is not what matters, what matters is that we up hold the essential liberty and freedoms granted to us. I believe the Patriot Act and other instances like it disregard those freedoms. Now insert the quote from Franklin, and it should all make more sense.
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