Enough already! I feel harassed. I am sick and tired of all these security measures that are supposed to be making us safe from terrorism. The measures themselves are terrifying me. It seems these days that everywhere you turn someone is searching through your pockets or your bags. And that’s just the obvious ones. Turns out the government may be listening to your phone calls and reading your e-mails too, without you even knowing.

About a year ago, I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. This museum was created to show the horrible consequences of people with too much power and not enough respect for humanity. I went with these ideals in mind and was greeted by security guards on a power trip. They yell and bark orders as if the museum visitors were known to be packing explosives in every pocket. I hate to tell them but I am relatively sure that most suicide bombers are not going to be deterred by verbal abuse. Is it really necessary for the security personnel to treat every person like a known terrorist trying to blow up the building? Isn’t this supposed to be a museum that promotes tolerance? Are we any safer because they act this way?

Museums are not the only place where these overzealous, under-qualified workers, hooked on the allure of power lurk. They are everywhere these days. And what’s really frightening is that when faced with one of these people, I feel compelled to turn over my Fourth Amendment rights on the spot to keep peace and the line moving.

I can’t be the only student here at NCSU that has been pulled over by the police on some lame charge only to have the real reason for the stop revealed. They want to search my vehicle. Knowing that I had nothing to hide and wanting to get on my way, I agreed. Now I realize that was not the correct response. We owe it to all honest citizens of this country and the framers of the Constitution, to politely demand that law officers get the required warrant before searching our homes or our cars (or our e-mails and phones, for that matter).

What is really sad to me, is that just writing this and knowing it will be published in our school newspaper makes me nervous. I am thinking, “Oh, no, now the police are going to be looking for me. My name is going to be put on the ‘suspected terrorist list.'” I wish I was joking, but I’m not. And not only does that make me sad, it makes me mad. I shouldn’t have to feel paranoid all the time.

Above all that is the fact that we really aren’t any safer because of these policies. It only turns the table of fear from terrorists to my own government. Bush has proven, yet again, that he has far too much power and not enough reasoning skills. I am referring to Bush authorizing wiretaps without warrants on people in the United States. I do think that the government should have the right to listen to the conversations of suspected terrorists. But I also think that Bush should not be the person who decides what makes a person a suspected terrorist. We need to have some evidence or guidelines to point in that direction. We cannot maintain a culture of freedom in this country if we begin to treat everyone as a suspect. He should require the government parties to ask a judge for a warrant, just like our American leaders have done for years now.

For similar reasons, I am opposed to the PATRIOT Act. This law puts far too much power in the hands of a few power-hungry people. The Fourth Amendment to our Constitution states “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.” Doesn’t the PATRIOT Act violate this?

Now is the time to discuss these issues. Now is the time to stop letting our government scare us into doing things. We need to let our congressmen know that our privacy is something we are willing to fight for. What makes our country the greatest in the world, and I do think that the United States is that, is not that we have the most ammunition and the strongest, bravest army. It is the premise of freedom, tolerance and

innocence until proven guilty that separates us from many other governments. Let us not become that which we oppose.