Don’t bother going into your bedroom to talk to your love ones who are at war, or better yet; don’t bother pulling your blinds and getting comfortable in your own living room without the fourth Amendment intact. Privacy is a thing in the past. You’re not secure in your own home anymore, while reading “What is Democracy” written by the government. If I’m remembering right, they said “Democracies exist to serve the people; the people do not exist to serve the government". Many American citizens feel like they have deeply been betrayed by their own government. It doesn’t feel like much a free society anymore. Especially since Congress passed the Patriot Act only six weeks prior to the September 11th terrorist attacks.
As we shifted transition weeks followed by 9/11, the country was terrified that another attack can occur at any moment from any corner. The Bush administrators quickly began to push thru sweeping policy changes. Before anyone had the chance to understand what went wrong, he purposed fixes that went far beyond fighting against terrorism. This is what happens when federal legislator respond in panic. When Patriot Act was first send to congress by the Bush Administrators, it came with a request that they should hold no hearings on it, so there won’t be a public input or public discourse.
Several weeks before the attack, Congress and Bush Administrators debated how to address and improve the needs of Law Enforcement. The new bill contained provision that has been rejected by congress before 9/11 has even occurred. All most all of the provision represented an effort to expend Federal Law an Enforcement power. The bill was printed 3:45 a.m. the morning before the vote in the house occur, now how many of those four-hundred and thirty-five congress members had a chance between 3:45 am to 11:00 a.m. to read a bill that was three hundred and fifteen pages? No member of congress has read this legislation, not even one.
Disadvantages of the Patriot Act has been widely criticized for being, in effect, too thorough. The Act provides sweeping power to government agencies to monitor the personal habits of not only those who have been identified as suspected