The Patriot Act
Axel (Germany) asks:
I just read in a German magazine about the 'USA Patriotic Act', which was issued about six weeks after 9/11 with close to no discussion in congress. It allows FBI agents (among other things) to investigate the reading habits of US citizens by checking library accounts and data collected by book dealers. Before this law, a judge had to issue a search warrant to legalize these actions. Now the police do not need to prove a connection to a crime any more.First statistics indicate that these powers are indeed widely used.
Is this information correct? What do you think of this practice?
The information is somewhat correct. The Patriot Act was signed by President Bush on October 26, 2001. Congress rushed this legislation through so they could say they were doing something in response to September 11 before the November elections (first Tuesday in November). In my opinion, Congress neglected their responsibilities and did not act in a mature manner. Both parties are responsible for this, but I was shocked by the actions of the Democrats at the time. They traditionally prefer to err on the side of civil liberties vs. national security while Republicans tend to err on the side of nationality security over civil liberties. The Democrats controlled the agenda of the Senate at that time since they had the majority. However, they decided to spend their time arguing with President Bush and the Republicans about union rights in the new Homeland Security reorganization and rushed the Patriot Act through the Senate. Voters didn't appreciate their stance on homeland security and that is one of the reasons the Republicans now control the Senate. So not only did the Democrats get defeated on their Homeland Security stance, they ignored their traditional role as defenders of civil liberties.
However, the Patriot Act did pass. I'm not thrilled with it, but it is not too bad. Many of the provisions in the bill will expire on December 31, 2005 unless renewed by Congress. The other provisions may be revoked by future legislation after the war on terrorism is won. The US has a fairly good track record in this regard. In times of war, Congress usually reduces our civil liberties a bit to help our national security. When the war is won, Congress writes new legislation that restores civil liberties. There is always the chance that they will not, but my guess is that there will be a new Civil Liberties bill passed after the war on terrorism is over. That is the historical pattern of our government.
