Complacency about the USA Patriot Act and its successor laws

Many people think: “9/11 happened a long time ago. It’s over. It doesn’t affect us now.”

Except it does.

Follow-on versions of the Patriot Act have gotten more severe, not less, to the extent that now any U.S. citizen (never mind non-citizens) can be detained for any reason and held indefinitely without charge, deprived of outside contact. That it has not yet been widely applied is cold comfort; that can change at any time. Wait until the next “crisis.”

— Bruce