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| One question posed to those who support the Patriot Act is where does it stop? This was the question Corey Doctorow posed in Little Brother. If the government has the power to give itself even more power, then what is stopping it from giving itself even more power? While these are valid questions, the United States government is built to honor the wishes of its people, in general. There may be a few laws that go by that the public would not agree on, but the system in place keeps this from becoming a trend, which is part of the reason Doctorow is wrong. First of all, the majority of 522 elected officials need to agree upon a bill for it to get passed. Second of all, the President can veto it. There are other safety nets within our government like legislative override, but the biggest safety gap of all is the vote of the people. Every senator or house representative must be voted upon by the people, for the people, making it virtually impossible for a government to continuously go against the interests of the majority. America may not be the most democratic country on the planet as Doctorow clearly points out. But, it may be the most difficult country to be turned into anything besides a democracy. This stems from the reason American was founded: to avoid oppression from an unjust government. The Founding Fathers trusted no single man to run a country, making it impossible for a single man or entity to significantly change the structure of the country. Little Brother is an extreme example of Doctorow believes could plausibly happen under the current laws, but was it even that bad? Marcus brought almost everything upon himself by not cooperating with the authorities. If a captive does not cooperate, the government has a responsibility to find out as much information about that person that they possibly can to keep its citizens safe. |
Image borrowed from flickr.com |
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