Detain without Charge or Search without Probable Cause

In this day and age, privacy and safety are subjects that are on everyone's minds. With much debate going on about which is more important, the question must be asked: How far can the federal government go into our private lives? Currently, officers of the law must have probable cause before they detain or search your person or possessions. Some argue that the government knows what iot's doing and should be able to do it without probable cause. Others rebuttal with an opinion of probable cause not being a good enough reason in the first place. Before addressing the problem at hand, it's good to take in and consider what each side has to offer.

The government has made a vow to protect its people. It could be said that it should do anything in order to protect them, correct? The programs that they have put into place watch over all of us and keep track of absolutely everything that everyone does. This, while extreme, is something that will keep people safe and be constantly on the lookout for terrorism or unsafe activities. The problem that we reach with all of this, is "who watches the watchers?"

That's where the other argument comes in. Although the amount of safety that keeping record of everything brings, it also  calls into question why anyone should have that power. Anyone in that point of power has control of so many things. The problem is not whether or not we trust our government enough in order to have this. The problem is that this should not be a power at all. Nobody should have that power.

The government needs to protect its people, that much is true. The problem that we face is that now that this power is in place, what could we possibly do to stop it? Because of the abilities that the government now possesses, they can silence any attempt to organize a protest against it. It may not be a problem now, but the people of America are allowing the tools of their own destruction to be set into place. It may not be now, or next week, or 5 years from now, but people will come to regret this decision. In the future, they will look back at us and ask, "how could they ever allow for something like this to happen?"

The problem is that people don't want to believe that their government could do such a thing. And maybe it won't. Maybe the government now would never do such an extreme thing. Maybe the next government won't either. But if the people of America sit idly by while the government slowly empowers itself more and more, with technology progressing, how could the future people of America ever stand against them? The government is supposed to be for the people and by the people, so why is it that there are secret laws and secret courts? Why are the people of America kept in the dark on what the government knows about them? Something needs to change, or America's freedom will be a thing of the past.