At Heart
So a bit more of the political mine field to wade through today.
I've seen quite a number of news stories about the renewal of the Patriot Act. As a fairly liberal guy I'd like to say that I'm concerned or worried, but the truth is I've no idea what all is in the patriot act and if I really care enough to object to it.
Now I haven't always followed the straight and narrow path. One might say that often times in the past my motto wasn't anything like, "Do Right. Be Right" so much as, "Don't get caught!" As a bit of a paranoid person I thought that it might behoove me to do a quick internet search for said act and give it a quick glance, just in case it covered any activities I might find myself unavoidably part of. (not that I'm planning to be a bad man, I'd just rather be prepared).
So a yahoo search brought me to this page. Looking at it on the screen really doesn't give one a good idea of it's size. So I opened the PDF format and found out that the document is 342 pages long. This is a little more than a quick glance can take in, but I was determined to press on, until I got past the contents. The body of the text is the most in comprehensible bit of writing I've ever encountered. I swear there isn't a complete sentence in the entire document and there are letters numbers and marks thrown in seemingly at random.
I went to school and studied English literature. The English I speak, the English I studied, is not the same language as that which is used to make or laws.
And this is what truly bothers me.
I know that we aren't really a democracy. This is a democratic republic. We elect leaders to make and enforce our laws. This is the way it should be. I wouldn't want every major decision made by poll. We aren't informed enough to do that sort of thing.
I do feel that we the people should be able to read and understand out laws. I shouldn't have to find a lawyer friend to decode it or trust that the American Civil Liberties Union will go after any major problems in the law. As a citizen I should be able to pick up the document and understand exactly what powers we are giving to law enforcement and to the executive branch of the government. I should be able to go to my friends with a copy and point to a section in it and say either this is good for the country, or this just aint right.
In summary : The Patriot Act will be renewed and I have no idea what that really means. I still hate the propaganda name.
More laters
I've seen quite a number of news stories about the renewal of the Patriot Act. As a fairly liberal guy I'd like to say that I'm concerned or worried, but the truth is I've no idea what all is in the patriot act and if I really care enough to object to it.
Now I haven't always followed the straight and narrow path. One might say that often times in the past my motto wasn't anything like, "Do Right. Be Right" so much as, "Don't get caught!" As a bit of a paranoid person I thought that it might behoove me to do a quick internet search for said act and give it a quick glance, just in case it covered any activities I might find myself unavoidably part of. (not that I'm planning to be a bad man, I'd just rather be prepared).
So a yahoo search brought me to this page. Looking at it on the screen really doesn't give one a good idea of it's size. So I opened the PDF format and found out that the document is 342 pages long. This is a little more than a quick glance can take in, but I was determined to press on, until I got past the contents. The body of the text is the most in comprehensible bit of writing I've ever encountered. I swear there isn't a complete sentence in the entire document and there are letters numbers and marks thrown in seemingly at random.
I went to school and studied English literature. The English I speak, the English I studied, is not the same language as that which is used to make or laws.
And this is what truly bothers me.
I know that we aren't really a democracy. This is a democratic republic. We elect leaders to make and enforce our laws. This is the way it should be. I wouldn't want every major decision made by poll. We aren't informed enough to do that sort of thing.
I do feel that we the people should be able to read and understand out laws. I shouldn't have to find a lawyer friend to decode it or trust that the American Civil Liberties Union will go after any major problems in the law. As a citizen I should be able to pick up the document and understand exactly what powers we are giving to law enforcement and to the executive branch of the government. I should be able to go to my friends with a copy and point to a section in it and say either this is good for the country, or this just aint right.
In summary : The Patriot Act will be renewed and I have no idea what that really means. I still hate the propaganda name.
More laters
posted by Rich Rosenthal II at 2:06 AM
1 Comments:
That may be the root of a lot of our problems--that most of us--even us educated folk--aren't informed enough to get too upset over what ever it is the gov. decides to do.
I have a vague idea of what the Patriot act is and it doesn't bother me--but i also have that dangerous confidence that my country will protect me and do what is best for me while I fail to actually pay attention to what they are doing and go about reading books based on people and planets that don't exist.
There are times when it does bother me that our laws aren't written in 'English' and that i feel I don't know enough to vote on certain acts even if i could. Sadly, it's too easy to let the elected officials make the choices for us. Hence why i want nothing to do with taking over the world.
Post a Comment
<< Home