The Patriot Act harms civil liberties (original) (raw)

POSITIONS

• Strongly Support means you believe: The Patriot Act is unpatriotic. The terrorists are winning because they have forced us to limit our Constitutional civil rights. We should not give up our liberties in exchange for security, because if we do we will end up with neither.
• Support means you believe: Homeland security needs should be balanced with respect for civil rights, and the Patriot Act goes too far. The sunset clause (automatic phaseout) should apply to all aspects so that the Patriot Act automatically disappears when the War on Terror is ended. Some provisions should be repealed immediately, because they grant too much power to the federal government and restrict our Constitutional rights too much.
• Oppose means you believe: To win the War on Terror, we need powerful tools to fight a new and powerful enemy. Hiding behind "civil rights" arguments coddles the terrorists and encourages them to strike again. We need to counter-attack the terrorists with financial weapons and legalistic weapons as well as military weapons.
• Strongly Oppose means you believe: The president should be granted all the means necessary to fight the War on Terror. When dealing with terrorists who want to destroy our country, stretching the definitions of torture and the Geneva Convention is necessary. Remember the victims of 9/11 first, and focus on preventing another 9/11 rather than focusing on civil rights of terrorists.

This question is looking for your views on balancing the War on Terror with the protection of civil liberties. However you answer the above question would be similar to your response to these statements:

• Domestic spying is unconstitutional.
• Guantanamo Bay's terrorist prison system should be shut down.
• Habeus Corpus (the right to a hearing) should be respected, even for terrorist suspects.
• The Patriot Act invests too much power in a centralized Executive.
• The Geneva Convention defines torture, and US actions must follow those international rules. How do you decide between "Support" and "Strongly Support" when you agree with both the descriptions above? (Or between "Oppose" and "Strongly Oppose"). The strong positions are generally based on matters of PRINCIPLES where the regular support and oppose positions are based on PRACTICAL matters. If you answer "No Opinion," this question is not counted in the VoteMatch answers for any candidate. If you give a general answer of Support vs. Oppose, VoteMatch can more accurately match a candidate with your stand. Don't worry so much about getting the strength of your answer exactly refined, or to think too hard about the exact wording of the question -- like candidates!
• Strongly Support means you believe in the principle that the Patriot Act violates constitutional rights.
• Support means you believe that for practical reasons, the patriot Act goes too far.
• Oppose means you believe that for practical reasons, the Patriot Act is necessary, but might be amended over time as needed.
• Strongly Oppose means you believe in the principle of a strong Presidency as the best means to fight the War on Terror.