Surveillance Nation; Is Amendment IV Gone?

Before we start we need to first refresh ourselves on what gives us the rights and freedoms that today is being eroded by power hungry and anti-American politicians. The three documents which all true Americans should hold close and keep from being perverted is The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, and The Bill of Rights. Even though many Americans as I hold these documents sacred and believe they should be followed, many politicians from all parties do not believe the same. They ignore and circumvent our founding documents to gain power and political status and now the Amendment IV is under attack. They want more information because information is power and the more they have on you, the more power they have over you, the more they can control you.

Amendment IV

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.

I wrote an article in March of this year “Drones in America” telling exactly what the capability was of drones. To me it highlights the largest violation of Amendment IV because with a drone overhead nothing you do or say is ever in private. The problem is, no one does research anymore so let me bring you up on the original H. R. 3162 (The Patriot Act) signed October 24, 2001

Sec. 210. Scope of Subpoenas for Records of Electronic Communications.

Sec. 2702. Voluntary disclosure of customer communications or records

(c) EXCEPTIONS FOR DISCLOSURE OF CUSTOMER RECORDS- A provider described in subsection (a) may divulge a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber to or customer of such service (not including the contents of communications

(3) as may be necessarily incident to the rendition of the service or to the protection of the rights or property of the provider of that service;

(4) to a governmental entity, if the provider reasonably believes that an emergency involving immediate danger of death or serious physical injury to any person justifies disclosure of the information; or

(5) to any person other than a governmental entity.'.

So the provider only gives government access if “the provider reasonably believes that an emergency”; lets read further.

Sec. 219. Single-Jurisdiction Search Warrants for Terrorism.

Rule 41(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure is amended by inserting after `executed' the following: `and (3) in an investigation of domestic terrorism or international terrorism (as defined in section 2331 of title 18, United States Code), by a Federal magistrate judge in any district in which activities related to the terrorism may have occurred, for a search of property or for a person within or outside the district'.

So warrants on people can only be issued for “domestic terrorism or international terrorism”; Lets keep reading.

Sec. 223. Civil Liability for Certain Unauthorized Disclosures.

(g) Improper Disclosure is Violation- Any willful disclosure or use by an investigative or law enforcement officer or governmental entity of information beyond the extent permitted by section 2517 is a violation of this chapter for purposes of section 2520(a).

Didn’t this happen during the 2012 election where information was leaked on a candidate which could have only come from this type surveillance? Yes, it did.

1. Case 1- Toledo City Council candidate, Kevin Milliken had his information leaked so it’s in the city races. 
2. Case 2- Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell had her records leaked so it’s in the Senate races. 
3. Case 3- One of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign co-chairmen used a leaked document from the IRS to attack GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney so it’s even in the Presidential races.

Now the last one was done by the Presidents people on an opposite party Presidential Candidate. I didn’t care for Mr. Romney and you may be asking; what does the IRS have to do with Federal Surveillance. If you read the article you will find out the IRS secretly used DEA surveillance database to launch its investigations; now you can see the connection. If any party sitting in office can use this tactic to get dirt or perceived dirt on their opponents, they can fort a fair election as may be the tale of Mr. Romney. Now we have the NSA surveillance casting wider net on e-mails and texts which is a direct violation of Amendment IV and the original “Patriot Act”; they can't do this with written mail so how can they get away with it with our e-mails and texts.

On May 26, 2011 the Patriot Act was extended but also changed from the original. On the day on the floor of the Senate, before the Patriot Act was extended, Sen. Ron Wyden said: “I want to deliver a warning this afternoon: When the American people find out how their government has secretly interpreted the Patriot Act, they will be stunned and they will be angry.” He was right and we are. This administration’s and congresses changes to the Patriot Act redefined terrorism so broadly, many non-terrorist political activities such as protest marches, demonstrations, and civil disobedience are now considered potential terrorist acts. This makes anyone desiring to engage in a march to protect any Constitutional Amendment or freedom in expressive activities as possible domestic terrorist and suspects of the surveillance state.

I don’t trust any of our politicians and it wasn’t always this way. Our current president and congress many times has said they were against violations of privacy; if this was so then as a senator, why is our now president supported it along with half the people in Congress and why was it changed under his watch? A even better question is why is President Obama still supporting this massive intrusion into our privacy?

I can sit here all day and rip the Democrats and Republicans for all the lies and deceitfulness both parties have shoved in the face of the US people. The only thing that can fix it is voting them out of office; McCain, Pelosi, Feinstein, Reid, and McConnell just to name a few; we need to get people back into office that care about our country, not their pocket books and special interest groups. If we don’t surveillance will be the lease of our worries.