"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

—Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

Introduction to the Problem

Six weeks after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the USA PATRIOT Act was passed without hearings, testimony or even being read. According to Representative Ron Paul of Texas, there wasn't even a finished draft on the floor of Congress, and the Act had been doubled in size the night before the vote by a handful of persons. The vote was 356 to 66 to pass the Act. America was clearly terrified and not necessarily in the best frame of mind to be objectively deciding issues that would result in radical changes to the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The changes include, but are not limited to:

1. Unchecked powers of surveillance to/by the Executive Branch.
2. Creates new, sometimes unnecessary and poorly defined crimes.
3. Enhances penalties for crimes that may not warrant the enhancements.
4. Allows persons to be held indefinitely, without charges, legal representation, or even family contact.
5. Defines "domestic terrorism" so poorly and broadly as to hypothetically incorporate non-terroristic misdemeanors. Defines domestic terrorism as acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of criminal laws if they appear to be intended to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion if they occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. Other federal definitions include "groups or individuals operating entirely inside the US intending to influence the US government or population to effect political or social change by engaging in criminal activity." This may include simply protesting or gathering signatures on a sidewalk when considering the broadness and vagueness of these definitions.
6. Enhances surveillance powers of the government, negating the previous definitions around Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.
7. Legal immigrants' due process rights are infringed.
8. Legal domestic political activists critical of our governments become targets of federal surveillance.
9. Those openly critical of the governments anti terrorism measures make themselves eligible for government scrutiny, allows the tracking of individuals' web-surfing habits; allows clandestine searches of homes, offices, and businesses and other places without notice to the person being searched.
10. Allows monitoring of private financial transactions.
11. Nationwide roving wire-taps and allows such searches to be conducted without warrants if it can be alleged that the gathering of foreign intelligence is the "significant purpose."
12. Opens the door to domestic spying by the CIA and potential past abuses like those committed under COINTELPRO.
13. Allows the government to place key-stroke monitoring devices on private computers.
14. Negates the ability of persons to view search warrants for accuracy, or the requirements for receipts for property seized.
15. The FBI may obtain such records without suspecting a person of any wrongdoing, both citizens and immigrants alike.
16. Allows local law enforcement similar broad authority and power in surveillance, providing vague definitions of "interest" can be claimed by the agency to apply to the case.
17. Allows substantial personal information to be shared between agencies without court supervision.
18. Negates due process and equal protection in a number of ways.

Executive orders now permit:

• The president to handpick the judges and jurors in military tribunals.
• Only a 2/3 vote for convictions in all but death penalty cases.
• Trials to be held in secret.
• Evidence to be withheld from the defendant and their attorney whether classified or not.
• An absence of review of military commission proceedings.
• Defendants to be held indefinitely even if the tribunal has found them NOT guilty.

Overnight regulation changes include:

• Federal agents and informants being allowed to spy on worship services, political gatherings, chat rooms, and social events without any evidence of illegal activity occurring.
• Other expanded wire tap authority.
• US citizens are allowed to be detained in military custody for indefinite periods of time without charges if labeled as an "enemy combatant."
• Legal immigrants may be held for undefined periods and may be held even if an immigration judge has ordered them released.
• Immigrants may be held without meaningful judicial review of the case.
• Department of Justice now authorizes prison officials to monitor communications between detainees and their lawyers without obtaining a court order and regardless of the charges.

Many of the overnight changes have appeared in various pieces of legislation over the last 20 years, casting doubt on how much of this is strictly a reaction to the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001. Furthermore, the amount of information or opportunity for information held by various federal agencies to have been used to thwart those terrorist acts casts serious doubt on the notion that it is the Bill of Rights that has created weakness in our ability to keep ourselves safe. More aptly, those pieces of information cast questions regarding the competence of that very federal government that now sees fit to gut the Constitution that it has sworn an oath to uphold.

If these changes frighten or offend you as they do us, for their infractions against the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the State of Alaska, then please lend your support to this cause to protect those ideals which have both defined and made America great for over 200 years. When those who swear an oath to protect liberty and justice instead mortally wound liberty and justice—in the name of protecting liberty and justice—it is clear that something is drastically wrong.

We can all help save the values that have made America great while still keeping her safe from terrorism.