The topic I have selected is individual privacy vs. national security. I chose this specific topic because it is very important to me that I have my own privacy I feel that the government should not be tracking every step I take in life. I understand that the United States needs to track and monitor terrorists. This, however, should have nothing to do with my rights. After the horrible act of terrorism on September 11, 2001 our government changed how people can be monitored. Forty-five days after those terror attacks, President George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act into law. The Patriot Act makes it very easy to spy on just about everyone, not just terrorists. I believe the government took these horrible acts as an opportunity to infringe on its citizens rights. This is unacceptable.
Terrorism is a huge concern for the United States. I completely understand this. However, the Patriot Act must be revised to only focus on individual terrorists and/or terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda. “Senator Wyden has warned that a secret law allowing the White House to keep its internal interpretations of the act classified means that it is now being used to justify surveillance that goes beyond what the public believes the law allows. But as long as the Patriot Act remains focused on ordinary Americans rather than suspected terrorists, the terrorists -- if you’ll forgive the truism -- have indeed have won.” (Rosen, J. 2011)
The Patriot Act is just too broad. Normal everyday citizens should not have to worry about the government listening to their phone calls or watching their every move. It’s none of their business; it is nobody’s business, but my own. To me, the government watching my every move is the same thing as a stalker watching my every move. Stalking is against the law and we put people in jail for it. For instants, if I were to talk on the phone and say something like, “Wow, that food is bomb, it’s going to blow the room away!” The word bomb and the reference to blowing up a room can trigger the government for potential terrorism. Although, I don’t mind talking about my food, it is a complete waste of the government’s time and my tax dollars for them to listen to my conversation. Innocent citizens should not have their phone tapped because they said the word, “bomb.” Only likely terrorists should be in high alert for the United States. I don’t pay taxes so the government can tap my phone; I pay taxes so they can tap terrorist’s phones.