In the history of the United States, the security of the nation has always been valued at the expense of civil liberties and freedom. In the 21st century, the implementation of US PATRIOT Act meant to increase security seems to have increased violation of civil liberties and the Fourth Amendment of the bill of rights. The Fourth Amendment focuses at prohibiting any sort of unreasonable seizures and searches. On the same note, the 4th Amendment focuses on ensuring that a warrant should be used in case of a search (Schulhofer, 2012). The US PATRIOT Act has tremendously depleted the rights to privacy of the citizens and increase the ability of the government to spy on the privacy of its people. In times of war, the national security seems to outweigh the civil liberties of the American citizens.
The main objective of US PATRIOT Act is to provide national security and protect its people. This is actually a good role, but this is carried out at the expense of the Fourth Amendments. The constitution protects the rights of people through the Fourth Amendment but the new surveillance standards under the USA PATRIOT Act neglects the basic rights of its citizens (Ball, 2004). Those who voted for the USA PATRIOT Act had only one thing in mind, which is security and forgot the Fourth Amendment. American society has been built with freedom and respect for rights of its people, but the introduction of the USA PATRIOT violated this culture. The USA PATRIOT Act has destroyed the American vision and the rights that are offered by the Fourth Amendment. In the general perspective, it is evident that the USA PATRIOT Act violates the 4th Amendment (Schulhofer, 2012). The national security of American citizens is very important, but the civil liberties and the rights that are granted and protected by the Fourth Amendment should always prevail. The Americans should enjoy their privacy and the entire provisions of the 4th Amendment.
References
Ball, H. (2004). The USA Patriot Act of 2001: Balancing civil liberties and national security : a reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.
Schulhofer, S. J. (2012). More essential than ever: The Fourth Amendment in the twenty-first century. New York: Oxford University Press.
