| ? I do not understand.
Question, "What does it mean to be American?"
Answer, "Being American means accepting and adhering to the qualities of the Bill of Rights, valuing every individuals opinion, never taking away someone else's right to free speech, etc." things like that which point to what the Constitution, first 10 Amendments point to.
I argue that now the answer is still those things, as well as, "Being at war with the terrorists and that our country is the only one able to promote democracy in the world, and that if I don't have anything to hide, then I shouldn't care if the government looks into my phone and email records. Only a person with something to hide would care about that." That, to me, is not American because the Fourth Amendment states that The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. meaning- the government doesn't have the right to seize any person's phone records for no reason, because probable cause is defined as a reasonable belief that a crime has been committed
So, for Americans to accept that anyones records be seized by the government for any reason, either means that Americans are being UnAmerican, or that we have the ability to redefine Americanism because we are The People.
Does this follow now? |