BF2S Forums USA Patriot Act

violates our constitutional rights at the expense of security. Liberty diminishes so that liberty can be sustained. Ironic? Yes. Ever heard that one before? "We're doing this for your own good."

First, realize that its not Patriot Act, but USA PATRIOT Act.  Its a clever acronym and a prime example of Orwellian wording.  It dramatically expanded the power of every level of government, had provisions for placing local authorities under federal control, and contains very broad language and definitions so that a select few people could designate a "terrorist".  It also has provisions to trump approximately half of the amendments in our Bill of Rights.

Large portions of the content in the USA PATRIOT Act are derived from previous "Alien and Sedition" acts, including anti-union, anti-communist, and the COINTELPRO programs.  Amazingly, it also has much in common with the Soviet legal system as developed under Stalin post WW2, provisions enacted which Stalin used to sieze even more decision-making powers from his already weak duma (parliament).  Other portions seem to have nothing to do with terrorism, but instead are directed at things like allowing the government to outsource MANY police functions, data collection functions, and military functions to contractors with no multi-branch oversight or accountability.

The provisions which added another police/intelligence department to our already staggering 17 Federal Agencies which already deal with this managed to balloon our government spending, even with the substantial tax cuts.  Political cronies with little law enforcement but much campaign donation experience were chosen to head up this new department, which was essentially a pure pork project which has done absolutely nothing statistically significant to increase our public safety.

In essence, the USA PATRIOT Act:

1 - Consolodates power to the executive
2 - Reduces or eliminates public or multi-branch accountability in many areas
3 - Adds a significant amount of employees and spending to the federal budget
4 - Duplicates tasks already performed effectively by other agencies
5 - Provides NO actual terrorist protections
6 - Provides methods by which federal agencies can exert control over local agencies
7 - Gives miscellaneous other powers to override the courts and Congress on a number of non-terrorist issues

GorillaTicTacs wrote:

First, realize that its not Patriot Act, but USA PATRIOT Act.  Its a clever acronym and a prime example of Orwellian wording.  It dramatically expanded the power of every level of government, had provisions for placing local authorities under federal control, and contains very broad language and definitions so that a select few people could designate a "terrorist".  It also has provisions to trump approximately half of the amendments in our Bill of Rights.

Large portions of the content in the USA PATRIOT Act are derived from previous "Alien and Sedition" acts, including anti-union, anti-communist, and the COINTELPRO programs.  Amazingly, it also has much in common with the Soviet legal system as developed under Stalin post WW2, provisions enacted which Stalin used to sieze even more decision-making powers from his already weak duma (parliament).  Other portions seem to have nothing to do with terrorism, but instead are directed at things like allowing the government to outsource MANY police functions, data collection functions, and military functions to contractors with no multi-branch oversight or accountability.

The provisions which added another police/intelligence department to our already staggering 17 Federal Agencies which already deal with this managed to balloon our government spending, even with the substantial tax cuts.  Political cronies with little law enforcement but much campaign donation experience were chosen to head up this new department, which was essentially a pure pork project which has done absolutely nothing statistically significant to increase our public safety.

In essence, the USA PATRIOT Act:

1 - Consolodates power to the executive
2 - Reduces or eliminates public or multi-branch accountability in many areas
3 - Adds a significant amount of employees and spending to the federal budget
4 - Duplicates tasks already performed effectively by other agencies
5 - Provides NO actual terrorist protections
6 - Provides methods by which federal agencies can exert control over local agencies
7 - Gives miscellaneous other powers to override the courts and Congress on a number of non-terrorist issues

QFE

That about sums up my view on the USA PATRIOT Act.

thanks to most who had helpful input