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Essay On Civil Liberties

709 Words3 Pages

Civil Liberties Some would argue that people would rather have security instead of liberty. But if that were true, why would we risk our lives in a war to ensure our freedoms? It’s because our rights are some of the most important things in our lives that some of us would die for. However, ever since the tragic incident of 9/11, National security has slowly been chipping away at our liberties. National security has altered several of our amendments taking away our freedom of speech, freedom of unreasonable search and seizures, freedom of being held without charge, and much more. One of the most well known amendments is freedom of speech. However, after 9/11 it 's not so much a “freedom” as it is a “privilege”. “The Patriot Act broadly expands the official definition of terrorism so that many domestic groups that engage in nonviolent civil disobedience could...find themselves labeled as terrorists” (Eroding Liberty). So even though we are told we have the right to say what we want, if we say something the government does not like, we are classified as a “terrorist”. For example, everyone knows of the …show more content…

Lastly, the Patriot Act also eroded our freedom to be held without a charge. “Americans can now be jailed without a formal charge” (Eroding Liberties). This changed amendment takes away our three natural rights; life, liberty, and happiness. In america, you are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. Unless you are convicted of a crime, you shouldn 't be punished. After 9/11, “hundreds of Arab, Muslim, and South Asian men were rounded up...and held for weeks without charges” (Eroding Liberties). After 9/11, hundreds of people were punished for someone else 's actions. This is completely unjust and unfair. It’s similar to a classroom situation when an anonymous kid acts up and won 't confess so the whole class in punished. Why should everyone be penalized for one person’s actions? The answer is, they shouldn’t. Yet for some reason, it is legal

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Recently the right to privacy has been severely threatened by the Patriot Act. The USA PATRIOT ACT, which was made a law on October 26, 2001 by president George W. Bush, let criminal investigators use whatever tools necessary to find terrorist attacks before they happened; USA PATRIOT ACT is short for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001". This was made a law in response to the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center in NYC on September 11, 2001. Law enforcement officials were given better resources to fight financial counterfeiting, smuggling and money laundering schemes that funded terrorists. The Patriot Act’s definition of terrorism also gave

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Perhaps the most obvious rights Americans enjoy are acquired from the freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, and press guaranteed in the First Amendment. It is this amendment that gives America its environment of freedom, because if expression were restrained, oppression of the people would soon imitate. As George Washington said, "If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. " When the people can 't voice their perspectives, tyranny begins. The government cannot take control over my opinions and thoughts.

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The government needs to do its civil duty of protecting the American citizens by most any means necessary under good conscious and reasoning. The Patriot Act has already saved thousands of lives by simple things that will go unnoticed such as simple communication between branches of the FBI. While some may say this act is an invasion of privacy the majority of the population would choose life over a simple communication with a work colleague. If the government repeals the Patriot Act many innocent lives could be taken by terrorist attacks that could have been stopped by communication or gut feeling. Life is a precious thing that America deserves and will receive through the protection of The Patriot

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The only exception to this right is that you have to be eighteen years of

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