How Will It Look Later?

How did this happen? It seems like I just woke up one morning, and found myself living in George Orwell’s 1984, The Early Years. Today we are told by our politicians that we must “sacrifice our liberty for security.” Are we just being handed the first incarnation of “Slavery is Freedom” and “War is Peace”?
From a purely theoretical perspective consider this: Are we sacrificing personal liberty so we can be detained and questioned by those we know rather than being “terrorized” by those from half-way around the world? I ask you to consider it from a theoretical perspective because some may take issue with any finger pointed toward “our government”, “local law enforcement” officers, or “federal agents.”
Have you taken time to really think about how the policies in the Patriot Act will be implemented? For example, what does the FBI really get to do now, under the Patriot Act, which they were not allowed to do before? Answer: “The Patriot Act violates the Constitution by allowing searches and seizures of American citizens and their property without a warrant issued by an independent court upon finding of probable cause.” (The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul, p 115) In case you missed it, that means “the attorney general is given the power, with no judicial oversight, to write ‘national security letters’ ordering holders of any of your personal records to hand them over for the government to examine.” (Paul, p 115)
In practical terms, the Patriot Act means that if the Supreme Court rules, or a Pro-Choice attorney general decides, that holding posters or driving a vehicle with pictures of abortions on them is an act of terrorism – those who have participated in these activities can have their bank accounts “examined” by federal agents and the bank is prohibited by law from telling the pro-life individual who is the target. Ask yourself, if you read in the New York or Los Angeles Times about Russia, Venezuela, or China enacting laws worded, organized, and implemented like the Patriot Act, how would you view their “new law”?
When speaking to those who believe that “our” government is “working to keep us safe” they call me paranoid for suggesting that something like I mentioned above could happen. So to all those who would call me paranoid, or who ask, “who do you know that has been abused under the Patriot Act?” I will only say this.

“If you do not love my freedom as much as you love your freedom, it’s not freedom you love,” Art – from a comment posted on Vox Popoli, 10.09.07 – 4:54pm.