The Government Does NOT Infringe on Our Privacy
Do you ever feel as you are being watched, even if you are just watching TV? Many Americans today feel as if our United States Government watches our every move. Do you think they are infringing on our constitutional rights? Or are people just paranoid? Dating back for many decades, people from all over the world have dreamed of coming to America because of our government and the freedoms we have as American citizens. Some of our grandparents and maybe even our parents came to the United States to fulfill this very dream.
In many other countries today, government officials are not concerned with the wellbeing of the citizens. According to an article posted on listverse.com by Jamie Frater, Haiti is the number one corrupt country in the world today, Myanmar is number two, and Iraq is number three. In addition, other countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are also not as fortunate to have a government that cares so much about its people and their safety. Therefore, the United States Government should be able to monitor our country if they suspect a probable threat to its people. Today, in my speech, I will discuss the reasons I feel our government has the right to take such high precautions to protect the people of the United States in relation to September 11, 2001 and the Patriot Act.
Where were you on 9/11? I was at school with my friends in my first grade classroom as our teacher was pulled out into the hall. While our school secretary came in to watch our class, all of the teachers were taken to the teacher’s lounge to watch what was happening on the news and to be instructed on how to handle the students. I remember my teacher walking back through the door with puffy red eyes as she told us our parents would be here shortly to take us home. There aren’t many events I remember from first grade, considering I was so young, but as Americans we will never forget where we were, who we were with, and how we felt on September 11, 2001.
Before September 11, 2001, the people of America felt safe to travel. We felt safe enough to fly to Florida with our families for a vacation or to Washington D.C. on a business trip. However, after 9/11, our freedom to feel safe and secure was stripped away from us. According to an article titled “Terrorist Attacks in the U.S. or Against Americans,” by infoplease.com, “September 11, 2001, was a terrorist attack on New York City, Arlington, Virginia, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania where Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked and crashed jets into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.” Because of this terrorist attack, a total of 2,992 people died or were never found. As a result of this, the Patriot Act was implemented on October 26, 2001 because our country’s right to feel safe was taken from us.
Many Americans believe that because of the Patriot Act, our government infringes on our privacy. Some people believe that the government can see you while you are watching TV on the couch even. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Website, “The Department of Justice's first priority is to prevent future terrorist attacks. Since its passage following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Patriot Act has played a key part - and often the leading role - in a number of successful operations to protect innocent Americans from the deadly plans of terrorists dedicated to destroying America and our way of life.” Americans feel as if the Patriot Act is the government’s way around the rules and our Constitutional rights, but really the government is trying to protect us to preserve our non-written rights: the right to feel safe at home, the right to feel safe in major cities and all cities, the freedom to not to afraid in public, and so many more unspoken freedoms.
In the beginning of my speech, I started out by asking a simple question: Do you ever feel as you are being watched? A better question now would be do you feel safe in your country? There’s a reason people are the way they are. Our unique struggles and backgrounds make up who we are, determine why we trust people and why we don’t, and tell how far will we go to protect ourselves and the things and people we love. With that being said there is a reason why the government goes to such lengths to protect this country. September 11, 2001 is one of the many terrorist attacks or plotted events to take down the United States. A more recent event was the April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing, where according to www.globalresearch.ca, 282 people were injured, four of which included fatal injuries. Even today with security measures our government takes today, such as the high security we have at airports and the Patriot Act, our freedom to feel safe was taken from us. The United States Government has a right to monitor and protect the people of the United States to whatever lengths necessary in order to preserve our unspoken right to feel safe again.