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Originally Posted by ZapThyCat Gore lost fair and square. Accept it already and move on, you can't be of any use to the present if you are stuck 6 years in the past.
What is so wrong with the patriot act? Are you against making it easier to take out terrorists? Apparently you are, because the Patriot act doesn't target you at all. I would think someone that was jewish, that knew somewhat what Israel had to do just to simply stay alive, would support the war against true terrorists. Iraq aside, I'm talking about real islamic activists who want to blow stuff up here in the US. You want to make it easier for them to accomplish that? Or do you just hate it because the press tells you to? You know that they ammended it before passing it, right? |
Gore did not lose fair and square. Bush was handed the White House by conservative justices in the Supreme Court. Gore actually won Florida, as decided in the final recount but the Supreme Court ruled that it was too late to accept it. So, Gore did not lose "fair and square;" he actually didn't even lose.
As for what is wrong with the PATRIOT ACT (all caps, gentlemen): it is unconstitutional. I'm surprised that nobody who has actually challenged it has made it to the Supreme Court for them to decide it. The last one that would've made it (the case of Jose Padilla) didn't because the government quickly charged him (after 3 years) with something that he was never accused of in those 3 years he was held captive just so the case wouldn't make it to the S.C.
Being against the PATRIOT ACT isn't about making it easier for terrorists; it is about conserving those liberties, rights, and freedoms that so many have died for. To be for the PATRIOT ACT is, in my opinion, a slap in the face to every person who has ever died for this country. I'm a history buff, and hold a minor in history (as well as philosophy) and, from what I've studied about the Founding Fathers, not one of them would have passed a law even remotely similar to the PATRIOT ACT. It goes against all they stood for; it goes against all of the Enligtenment ideas. Their ideas are still alive today in letters, books, and (best of all) in the Constitution. You should read it sometime (not just you, Zap, but everyone should). Be honest, when was the last time you read it? I read it just 3 days ago when researching something. I still don't see how the PATRIOT ACT is allowed under the Constitution. Another thing is that I don't know of anyone who defends it who has actually read it. I have and it's scary.
I like my privacy and my liberty. So much so that I'm willing to risk being killed by a terrorist just to preserve it. I fight and have fought overseas to protect these very rights and liberties that so many take for granted. I've seen those who do not have them; those who live under theocratic and absolutist states. That is where this country is headed and I don't like it one bit.
I took an oath (just as al elected officials do) to protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Our current government seems to be a domestic enemy because it is trying to destroy our Constitutional rights and guarantees. Just because they are the government doesn't mean they can't be enemies of the Constitution. I really believe that if the Founding Fathers were alive today, they would rally the citizens to change the government to one that less restrictive.
