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Throughout this country's history, the phrase national security has often been used as a pretext for massive violations of individual rights. The terrorist attacks on September 11 mobilized much of our country in the fight against terrorism. However, this wave of "anti-terrorist" activity, all in the name of national security, also launched one of the most serious civil liberties crises our nation has ever seen.
The USA PATRIOT Act and related government actions undercut many important checks and balances on government law enforcement and intelligence powers. Under this Act and other Administration actions that were taken without congressional involvement, the government can search your home without notifying you, can get a list of the books you have obtained from your library and your local bookstore and require your local librarian and bookseller to keep this hidden from you, can keep a file on how often you go to church, which churches you attend and the medications you use -- even if these activities have nothing to do with the fight against terrorism .
We should provide law enforcement with necessary tools to fight terrorism, but the USA PATRIOT Act and related government actions also gave the government many new powers that go beyond the fight against terrorism. Parts of the USA PATRIOT Act and other government actions take away checks on law enforcement and threaten the very rights and freedoms that we are waging the war on terror to protect.
We must remember that an immutable characteristic of our nation is freedom. If we allow the interests of national security to take away our freedoms, we surrender what it is to be an American.
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