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The Pros And Cons Of The Patriot Act

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The Pros And Cons Of The Patriot Act
The Patriot Act has caused a significant amount of controversy ever since it was passed by President Bush in 2001. Two different arguments have come about and many people feel very strongly about their respective opinions. Although there are many positives to The Patriot Act it should not be legal and is ultimatley unconstitutional.

The Patriot Act should not be allowed because it completley violates the innocent Americans privacy. The main argument government officials make is that Americans need to sacrifice their privacy so that the FBI and NSA are able to effectively protect them from terrorist attacks. The NSA has records of every single phone conversation ever had. This is a complete violation of all Americans privacy. The White House has even said that The Patriot Act has not caught or helped catch any terrorist that wouldn't have otherwise been caught. Government officials just want to be able to have something to back …show more content…
Although it may have calmed the American people down at the moment, it was not the correct long term solution. President Bush, congress, and the house of representatives were desperate to find a solution for the terrorist attack, so just 45 days following the attack. The act has not proven impactful either. Between 2003 and 2006 there have been 192,499 National Security Letter searches, resulting one terrorism related conviction. With that many searches being performed, if it were to be beneficial, then more people would have been caught. The act is not directly helping to find terrorist, just invading the constitutional privacy of Americans. The Patriot act was pushed through congress way too fast and was not properly thought through. There are too many drawbacks that violate the privacy of free, innocent
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