The United States of America has long been the “land of the free”, but are its citizens truly free? The government often involves itself in the lives of the citizens and tries to justify it with the “social contract”, but how many Americans consent to this idea? Many of these tradeoffs require Americans to forfeit some of their freedom and privacy in exchange for safety, but this is dangerous, as sacrificing just a few freedoms will likely lead to giving up ALL freedoms.
Some of these nonconsensual exchanges of freedom include but are not limited to, the government spying on financial transactions, enforcing unconstitutional pandemic lockdowns, and the USA PATRIOT ACT or simply ‘the Patriot Act’. The Patriot Act was signed into law soon after September 11th to prevent terrorist attacks before they occurred and has been accepted as a necessary tradeoff of freedom to stop terrorism. However, not only does the Patriot Act violate the 4th Amendment, but it has been ineffective in the War on Terror, and it never should have been signed into law.
Starting with the rule of constitutionality, the Patriot Act allows the government to spy on its citizen’s phone calls, internet search history, online purchases, and allows for home searches. While one may argue that this is a necessary preemptive measure, this also allows the government to spy on innocent civilians without a warrant and probable cause. This is a clear infringement on the 4th Amendment, and even if there is suspicion of potential wrongdoing, there is still the issue of a lack of a warrant.
Interestingly enough, the Patriot Act has not even shown to have been all that effective. Terrorism still exists but the threat of it is often inflated by the media and the military industrial complex, which has incentivized congress to renew it with new provisions to violate our civil liberties year after year. The NSA has proven time and time again their inability to defend it too, notably in a hearing with the U.S. Senate in 2013, when former NSA director John Inglis was unable to defend the initial claims that fifty-four terrorist attacks had been thwarted by powers granted by the Patriot Act, when in reality the real number was much smaller.
Moving onto the War on Terror, the government has been intervening in the Middle East for decades, long before the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. Whether through nation-building, bombings, funding wars that starve civilians, or spreading propaganda to overthrow the Shah, the government has done plenty to infuriate people in the region. Because of American military intervention in the Middle East, there have been several deadly instances of blowback, including the Iran Hostage Crisis, the bombing of the USS Cole, and 9/11.
One would think that these instances of deadly blowback would make the argument for the Patriot Act, but they don’t because government intervention is why these acts happen, and bigger government will only worsen the issue. As for domestic terrorism, the government has violated the civil liberties of Americans plenty of times that have resulted in terrorist attacks at home. While terrorist attacks are certainly unjustified and have hurt innocents, the government has not made things better and has convinced much of the population that spying on Americans will solve the problem when it only makes it worse.
Now twenty-two years after the 9/11 attacks, the United States has not gotten any freer or safer. The TSA, NSA, and other alphabet agencies violate the freedoms of Americans every day, and those who expose the crimes of these agencies are labeled as criminals and traitors. Not only are we not safer nor freer, but certain agencies have liedabout the data of domestic terrorism to necessitate a massive national surveillance system.
Is there really a way to be both a free and safe country? There is, but America must first adopt a much wiser foreign policy and roll back unconstitutional agencies, systems, and bills like the Patriot Act.
Have an opposing viewpoint to this opinion? Let us know. All views are welcome. Send your thoughts to our Editorial Staff – Editor Dylan Hicks dhicks@student.dean.edu or Dean Daily Faculty Advisor, Professor John Rooke jrooke@dean.edu