The terrorists won, the PATRIOT ACT is still on the books.

I was reading an article by The Week talking about how al Qaeda is not as much of a threat as it was 12 years ago because it has very little leadership and has become more of a brand name than a fully functional organization.

But one thing I would argue is that al Qaeda has already won. Al Qaeda opposes liberalism (the idea that individuals can make choices) and see America as a respresentative of that liberalism, because our country was founded on it. Al Qaeda wants to implement laws to make it so women can't drive, no religious freedom, and other things that are very common in the nations they are allied to. The goal of 9/11 was to make Americans so scared that we would implement laws to fulfill their agenda. Starting in 1978 with the Foreign Intelligence Service Act the United States government started requiring warrants for international surveillance, and this was increased a lot following the attack on America. With the increased airport security which is extremely intrusive, increased custom requirements with Canada which I doubt has any positive results on illegal materials, warrantless wiretapping on American civilians, and other intrusive limits on American freedom. When the PATRIOT ACT and the other major bills that limited our liberties were passed the terrorists won and they will have won until such bills are repealed by either legislation or courts.

By keeping us thinking al Qaeda is still a major threat we will keep having the warrantless wiretapping, intrusive airport spying, and other limitations on our freedoms, which is keeping al Qaeda's progress in their War on Freedom they have been waging. The only way to win the War on Terrorism is to encourage the expansion of freedom which is exactly what al Qaeda doesn't want. Also, by keeping the telecommunications contracts for the warrantless spying we are continuing to buy billions of dollars worth of equipment from political donors (AT&T, Comcast, etc.) which is the incentive to our politicians to not stand on the infringement of our constitutional liberties.

Repeal the PATRIOT ACT, reduce airport security, open the border with Canada, and fight al Qaeda by making America more free. If someone is dangerous the government can get a warrant, restrict them from flying and buying weapons or other reasonable restrictions that will protect the freedom of the many while protecting us from people being dangerous to others.

If the rest of the world sees us be secure and free they will want to be like us, but as the largest developed nation in the world we need to be the leader and fight al Qaeda by destroying their gains against our freedom. Only then will we defeat their war against our freedom.

The Week