The Patriot Act

In My Opinion

The following is a statement made by President George W. Bush is giving his opinion on the importance of the Patriot act. I obtained this statement from http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/.

"The number one tool in defending this country is intelligence. Gathering it, investigating it, and sharing it. If we don't have the full ability to use the tools of gathering, sharing, and using intelligence, we are putting very important weapons in the war on terror down on the ground and walking away from them. And I don't think that's anything we can afford to do. … Our line of defense is a line with intelligence and investigation. And the PATRIOT Act gives us the ability to do that in a way that respects the Constitution, respects civil liberties, but gets the job done."

I am going to start my argument against the Patriot Act by drawing your attention to where Bush states that the Patriot Act respects the Constitution and civil liberties. Think very hard on those words and see if you can spot the mixed message. The Constitution strictly prohibits wiring tapping without a court order. How is an act that permits the violation of our Constitution protecting our Constitution?

To paraphrase, a couple of days ago, Bush was asked if he feels he did any thing illegal in wire tapping phones without a court order. Bush's response was no. Then he was asked about the war time laws that state clearly that wire tapping of phones is by statute (written law) illegal. Bush's only rebuttal was that it is an outdated law. Murder laws have been on the books a lot longer than wire tapping, are they out dated laws.

I understand that technology is growing faster than our laws can keep up with, but to state that illegal wire tapping is out dated is about the same as stating that our Bill of Rights needs to be done away with. We still use telephones to communicate therefore the law still applies to current day.