loonyblog.

See, this is why the constitution exists.

As noted in this AP story at Yahoo News, the incredibly wide-sweeping powers given to the Justice Department by the Patriot Act, which were intended to only be used against would-be terrorists, have been aimed at common criminals. All along us left wing nutcases and our support agencies, have been saying that giving this kind of power to any government organization and accepting their word that they wouldn't abuse it was pure insanity. And guess what? It is!

I'm sure there are still going to be lots of people who are wondering why this is such a big deal. After all, these powers are being used against criminals, right? And why are we complaining about giving rights to felons? The reasons are simple...the Patriot Act defines a "terrorist" so poorly that there's no telling what it could be applied to. Shoplifting?

This isn't just paranoia, it's actually really a possibility. The Bush administration has done an incredible job at chipping away at the system of checks and balances that was put in place for good reason. Whoever ousts him next year (and I pray someone does) should have a solid plan to get this country back in line with the vision of the constitution. I just hope we don't get any worse before things get better.

Posted by jason at September 15, 2003 01:33 PM | TrackBack | Read more: Politics