Editing PATRIOT Act

==Perspectives==

{{Perspectives}}

* I am a psychology student and i believe that the Patriot Act should only be Used when the Majority of the population approves (Making the general population aware before rather than during or after) and its eaves dropping is watched/maintained by atleast two groups that would be temporarily elected : a) Those in Favor and b) Those against.

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* I am a Technology student and I believe that the Patriot Act is the most privately intrusive act established in my lifetime and that it should be dismantled.

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* I am a CS student, and I believe the Patriot Act is a danger to our civil liberties and sets a precedent for irresponsible government(most congresscritters did not even read it before voting on it), as well as establishing security as more important than liberty which will only serve to erode our rights in the name of the never ending war on terror.

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* I am an Engineer, and I think that the Patriot Act is a very dangerous set of powers rolled in with some good and necessary changes. The increased interaction of different security organizations is good, but the removals of checks and balances by the Judicial branch of government is dangerous indeed. Granting more and more power to a single branch of government is a very very dangerous slippery slope to walk along. The act should be repealed, and the good parts of it replaced with targeted laws. [[User:Kbal11|Kbal11]] 17:39, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

* I am a natural-born U.S. citizen and I love the U.S.A. and wish to preserve it government. I suspect that [[wikipedia:Sherman Austin]] submitted to a plea bargain to avoid the possibility of spending much of his adult life in jail because of this Act. -- [[User:67.119.194.210|67.119.194.210]] 19:07, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

* I am an italian student of C.S. and i believe that the PATRIOT Act with the heavvy control of the information by small group of people (like here in Italy, btw) and the lies of your government (brainwashing style) have really reduced democracy in your country. In my opinion patriotism is not too far away from nationalism, that can lead, with an accurate production of fear elements, to a regime with only economic purposes. Sorry for my bad english. -- [[User:Fstab|Fstab]] 08:28, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

* I am an european sociology student with double nationality (U.S. & Belgian) and I strongly believe the patriot act is one of the many steps on a road that leads from a democracy with real freedoms to a totalitarian state with hollow freedoms. Even now already, citizens concerned about potentially illegal activities of the governement that concern millions of people get bullied by their own president. [http://mbanks.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/06/president_bush_.html]

* I am a Canadian IT student, and I believe that the PATRIOT act is a danger to every US citizen. It also makes me concerned now that a new Concervative government has taken power in Canada, that they might try to pull something similar.

* I am a proud American, yet I strongly disapprove of much of what goes on in our goverment today. I would be quite willing to give up some rights for the net benefit of our country's security. Yes, some parts of the act may seem radical, and some may seem insane, yet new attacks on our country require new types of defenses. I am critical, however, of how the country uses the knowledge that it collects - aka. it does not use most of it since the data collected is often worthless.

*I am not an American, but have read a large portion of the Act and written about it on Wikipedia. To be honest, there are a number of provisions that aren't that good (I'm specifically thinking of many of the sections in Title II), but overall the Act is not that bad. Having read a great deal of uneducated opinions and hand waving about the Act I have come to the conclusion that not that many people have read it, and not many people ''really'' know why they are opposed to it other than a vague sense of "the ACLU told me that it's bad for our civil liberties, so therefore I'm going to oppose it even though I know nothing about it". In this regard, I encourage people to read the articles on each Title on Wikipedia so that they can at least know what they are opposed to. - [[User:Ta bu shi da yu|Ta bu shi da yu]] 03:49, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

*I an a Proud American and i believe that some lines need to be crossed to get the right thing done and if a few peoples civil liberties are infringed upon then so be it. and to all of the non-Americans bashing out government saying that it is corrupted or its brain washing us shut the hell up and worry about your own government.we do things the way we want to get over it. i would rather see one hundred people saved, or for that matter one person saved, and have a terrorists rights infringed upon. i wouldn't care if the government was listening in on my conversations if they thought there was cause.

* I am an American and a PhD in Computer science. I strongly disapprove of the the Patriot Act and the war on terror as it is currently being conducted. I have fallen deeply in love with the most extraordinary Iranian woman who, for reasons that I cannot comprehend, fell as deeply in love with me. We are in love with each other and wish to spend our lives together. We have no interest in "a clash of civilizations", terrorism, or to cause harm to each others cultures, governments, or families. She is Muslim and I am Buddhist, but we have found common ground across culture, language, and religion, in our love for each other. However, for this terrible political sin, I have lost my security clearance, had my company laptop computer seized, and (I believe) my telephone calls to this woman have been tapped. The government of the United States is suppose to be, as Abraham Lincoln so eloquently put it, a "government of the *people*, by the *people*, and for the *people*". How is it then, that a warm, gentle, love such as ours can be considered so dangerous and subversive. If this is true for our love... Imagine how treasonous it might to be to utter such radical words as:

<blockquote>We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men [people]

are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator,

with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,

Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among

Men [people], deriving their just powers from the Consent of

the Governed, that '''whenever any Form of Government becomes'''

'''destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to'''

'''alter or abolish it''', and to institute new Government, laying

its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers

in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their

Safety and Happiness. </blockquote>