Thursday, April 22, 2010

Good to see rights being upheld

It’s in the UK, but a speaker who was searched because he had a “confident attitude” was awarded money by a judge for the event.

I am highly torn on this whole security debate and the Patriot Act in the US. On one hand I want authorities to be working to keep us safe. If they find someone that has committed an act or terrorism on US soil, put a bullet in their head. I’m perfectly happy with the notion of self-defense and deadly force.

However when we have suspicions, we get into a gray area.

When we have laws that allow police to act upon suspicions, however, we get into the area of abuse. And being human, someone will abuse those rights. Not everyone, but someone. And the money money or power that’s involved, the more people are likely to abuse things.

This is why we need to keep our civil rights codified, and upheld. Not that the government won’t break those laws at times, but they need to be held accountable for those breaks. If the individuals allowing the rights abuses were wrong, they should pay a steep price.

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