Patriot Act

Figure. 1 9/11 Terrorist Attack

What is the Patriot Act Well, think of it as a RULE that this country has to follow. This act was formed after the terrorist event that took place on September 11, 2001. A terrorist would play the same role as a bad guy in a movie. They do bad things and try to hurt people to try and get their way. The person that decides to make the rule is the president of the United States. At the time the Patriot Act was formed, the president was a man named George W. Bush. The Patriot Act stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001". Think of the Patriot Act as something that prevents the terrorist from hurting our country and the people in it.

Figure 2. Patriot Act.

There are quite a few perks to the Patriot Act. The government has freedom of unreasonable searches and may search and seize papers and effects owned by citizens without probable cause to assist terror investigations(1). This means if the government thinks you could possibly be a bad guy, then they can search all your personal information such as your home, car, computer, workplace, and reading material without your permission. This is good for the United States because if a bad guy wants to hurt our country, then our police can stop them before they do. The people involved in the patriot act are mostly politicians and people who deal with the government, almost like spys! They can look up all your information to make sure you are being a good guy in our country. According to James Carafano, a homeland security expert at the Heritage Foundation, "We've stopped twenty eight terrorist attacks since the 9/11 incident."(2)

So before you do something, ask yourself "is it safe", "would this make me a good guy or bad guy." If you think it would make you a bad gut don't do it or you can get in serious trouble?


References:

(1) (August 8th, 2008), The USA PATRIOT Act, Legislation Rushed Into Law in the Wake of 9/11, 9/11 Research, Retrieved from http://911research.wtc7.net/post911/legislation/usapatriot.html.

(2) Farrell, M. (March 1st, 2010), Obama Signs Patriot Act extension without reforms, The Christian Science Monitor, retrieved from http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0301/Obama-signs-Patriot-Act-extension-without-reforms