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the rhetoric of 20th Century Cold War presidents, Bush talked of an “Axis of
Evil,” a coalition of terrorist states trying to do harm to the U.S., and told the
American people that “Freedom and fear are at war.” America’s enemies, he
said, “hate our freedoms, our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our
freedom to assemble and disagree with each other.” The Bush administration
described a newly divided world in which no distinction would be made
between terrorists or governments that harbored them. “Either you are with
us,” Bush decreed, “or you are with the terrorists.” With the outpouring of
patriotism and the rise in public trust for the government in the wake of 9/11,
the Bush administration moved to alter not just the international situation but
also the domestic political environment.
The result of this effort at home was the Patriot Act and a new Department
of Homeland Security, bringing back memories of the red scares after the world
wars. Just one month after his address to Congress and the American people,
on October 26th, 2001 the President signed into law the “Uniting and
Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept
and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001,” otherwise known by its manufactured
acronym, the USA Patriot Act, or more commonly, just the Patriot Act. At the
same time the President moved to reassure Americans by again telling them
that terrorists hated us for our love of freedom, his Patriot Act moved to
reduce freedom at home. Among several provisions, the Act dramatically
increased the power of law enforcement agencies to essentially spy on the
personal activities of Americans thought telephone, email, medical, financial,
and other record searches–even library withdrawals or book purchases. The
Treasury Department was given expanded authority to regulate commerce
with foreign individuals and groups.
Surveillance and inspections at airports and other public spaces increased.
Even more intrusive to civil liberties, immigrants suspected of terrorism or
terrorist related activities could be detained and deported almost at will.
Congress had delineated a whole new set of crimes and penalties for use in
the fight against both domestic and international terrorism. The Act passed
both houses of Congress easily with widespread support coming from
Republicans and Democrats. It would take several more years, and the rev-
elations of Julian Assange of Wikileaks and a government contractor named
Edward Snowden, to learn just how deeply Bush, and then Obama, violated
American freedom and liberties with their domestic surveillance program.