The Patriot Act was developed immediately at the end of terror attacks in America, which assigned the law enforcement agencies to explore and arrest the terrorist and finally judge them. The Act allows the use of investigative tools to curb criminal activities and investigate the terrorists' possible future attacks. Additionally, civil liberties seek to ensure that the right to privacy to individuals with no government interference. This paper aims to answer various questions on balancing freedom and security, conflicts, and Ashcroft opinions on libertarians and terrorism.
Question 1
Civil and liberties protection and concerns about national security can come into conflict in various ways. The World Trade Centre attacks had forced the US government has decided to enforce security to improve the balance between civil liberty and security. The government had come up with measures to combat terrorism. The techniques used by law enforcement officers to promote security and prevent terrorism has often conflicted with civil and liberty right to privacy. The disputes arose due to physical intrusion and surveillance of private space by national security as one of the measures to combat terrorism (UAHC, 2003). According to Civil and Liberty laws, an intrusion of the physical and private life of and individual is prohibited. Therefore, this had led to the rise of conflict.
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Question 2
The conflicts between liberty and security were determined by conceiving them as proportional and then seeking to balance their competing interests. The critical balance is that benefit to safety must be balanced against losses to liberty (Fritz, 2018). The value of security and freedom is attached to each to ensure both parties' benefits. According to Fritz (2018), liberty restrictions should only be with a good reason, and both parties should be in the legal agreement. In addition, freedom of association, expression, and movement in a liberal democracy is so effective in dealing with violence and attacks. Therefore, if freedom is enhanced, there should be a proper balance between liberty and security.
USA Patriot Act is an act that prevents future terrorist attacks. The Act's dedication is protecting citizens from the fatal ambush of terror groups whose aims are tearing down the American's lives. The Act falls on this spectrum since it explains and creates awareness of how far the actions can interfere with the average balance between civil liberties and international security (Fritz, 2018)). This Act is a tool that can carry on confidential evaluations on communication by trapping the records and trace the devices to access sensitive documents.
Question 3
I do agree with the opinion with John Ashcroft that civil libertarians who are disquieted about the loss of liberties are just helping terrorists. John argues that without enough security, democracy is meaningless, which is the truth, and evidence is that without protection, there is no control of liberty. Ashcroft states that honesty is the key but not fear-mongering. The libertarians have been scaring peace-loving people with the excuses of lost freedoms (Jeffrey, 2002). These tactics employed by the civil libertarians to people are the actions that aid terrorists since they destroy national unity and diminish all the resolves.
References
Fritz Aloof (2018). Liberty and Security: A Balanced Approach. Retrieved from: https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1025&context=jlpa
Jeffrey Tobin (2002). Ashcroft's Ascent. Retrieved from: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/04/15/ashcrofts-ascent
UAHC (2003). Civil Liberties and National Security: Striking the Proper Balance. Retrieved from: https://urj.org/what-we-believe/resolutions/civil-liberties-and-national-security-striking-proper-balance
