take my Civil Liberties Poll

[HOBBIT]

For a school project, I had to pick a controversial issue. For some reason, I chose Civil Liberties During Wartime.

I created this poll and I need to get 150 responses. I'm really looking for people 18 and over to take it. I'd really appreciate it if you would help me out by taking it.

Post your responses or PM them to me.

I also have to do a 30 second commercial on civil liberties being limited during wartime. If anyone has any ideas please feel free to PM them to me


Take your time with the 10 questions, but it is due very soon.

Civil Liberties During Wartime

Sex : Male □ Female □
Age : -18 □ 18-25□ 26-35□
36-45□ 46-55□ 55+ □
Race/Ethnicity : African American □ Caucasian □ Native American □ Asian/Pacific Islander□ Hispanic□ Other □ _________________
Religious Preference : Catholic □ Protestant □ Muslim □ Jewish □
Other □ _________________
Political Affiliation: Republican □ Democrat □ Independent □ None □
1.) Some civil liberties should be limited during times of war to better ensure security.
a.) Strongly Agree
b.) Agree
c.) No Opinion/Neutral
d.) Disagree
e.) Strongly Disagree

2.) The authorities should be able to search and arrest someone simply because he or she fits a terrorist profile.
a.) Strongly Agree
b.) Agree
c.) No Opinion/Neutral
d.) Disagree
e.) Strongly Disagree

3.) Those arrested on suspicion of terrorism should be allowed to see all the evidence against them, even if it is classified.
a.) Strongly Agree
b.) Agree
c.) No Opinion/Neutral
d.) Disagree
e.) Strongly Disagree

4.) The authorities should have the right to monitor telephone activity, internet usage (e-mail, URLs and IP addresses used), and to use wiretaps.
a.) Strongly Agree
b.) Agree
c.) No Opinion/Neutral
d.) Disagree
e.) Strongly Disagree

5.) Local libraries, without your knowledge and without probable cause, should be forced to turn over records to the government of books you have checked out.
a.) Strongly Agree
b.) Agree
c.) No Opinion/Neutral
d.) Disagree
e.) Strongly Disagree

6.) Students should be allowed to express their political opinions through shirts, pins, and other apparel in school.
a.) Strongly Agree
b.) Agree
c.) No Opinion/Neutral
d.) Disagree
e.) Strongly Disagree

7.) Those who disagree with the suspension of certain civil liberties contained within the Patriot Act should be labeled as “unpatriotic.”
a.) Strongly Agree
b.) Agree
c.) No Opinion/Neutral
d.) Disagree
e.) Strongly Disagree

8.) The president should be able to remove protestors or people who disagree with him from his audience for speeches and press conferences.
a.) Strongly Agree
b.) Agree
c.) No Opinion/Neutral
d.) Disagree
e.) Strongly Disagree


9.) State and Local law enforcement should have the right to apply for extended wiretapping authority.
a.) Strongly Agree
b.) Agree
c.) No Opinion/Neutral
d.) Disagree
e.) Strongly Disagree

10.) You approve of how George Bush is protecting our civil liberties.
a.) Strongly Agree
b.) Agree
c.) No Opinion/Neutral
d.) Disagree
e.) Strongly Disagree

[brownjenkins]

sex: male
age: 38
race: caucasian
religion: agnostic
politics: independent

1 e
2 e
3 a
4 a
5 e
6 a
7 e
8 e
9 a
10 e

[Elanor]

I sent you mine.

[-elfearz-]

I'm not from America...but -
Sex: Female
Age: 20
Race: Indian/Australian
Religion: I could write an essay on it . Agnostic I guess.
Politics: N/A (not from US)

1. I could write an essay on this too so I'll just say c
2. e
3. a
4. b (edit – like Nurv said, only if a proper warrant is obtained)
5. e
6. b (edit – I think by and large they should be allowed to do this, but I think they shouldn’t be allowed to wear symbols and the like which could be seen as threatening to another group (eg Nazi or KKK logos/slogans etc)
7. e
8. d (edit - if there’s a protest that is so riotous that the President is unable to give a press conference, I think it would be reasonable to control the protestors, or remove them if this proves impossible. In other circumstances I’d say e. I haven’t thought out the logistics of this at all)
9. b
10. e

[Jonathan]

I'm not American either but hope these response will be helpful for your project anyway.

sex: male
age: 20
race: caucasian
religion: none
politics: can't vote in the US

1 e
2 e
3 a
4 b
5 e
6 a
7 e
8 e
9 b
10 c

[Nurvingiel]

Civil Liberties During Wartime

Sex : Female
Age : 22
Race/Ethnicity : Caucasian
Religious Preference : Anglican (Episcopal in the USA)
Political Affiliation: [Canadian]
1.) d
2.) e
3.) a (I believe this is the case in non-wartime court cases)
4.) b (Only if a proper warrant is obtained)
5.) e
6.) a
7.) e
8.) e
9.) b
10.) e

[Count Comfect]

Male, 18-25
Caucasian
Jewish
Democrat
1.) d
2.) e
3.) a
4.) e
5.) e
6.) a
7.) e
8.) d
9.) b
10.) e

[The last sane person]

(Not really US, but what the heck)
Female, 18+
Caucasian
Zoroastrian
None

1)E
2)E!!! (i'd be arrested the moment I boarded a plane)
3)A
4) E
5)C
6)A
7)E!
8)E!
9)C
10)E

[Hasty Ent]

Sex : Female
Age : 42
Race/Ethnicity : Caucasian
Religious Preference : atheist
Political Affiliation: Democrat (although I've grown increasingly disenchanted with them)

1.) Some civil liberties should be limited during times of war to better ensure security.
e.) Strongly Disagree

2.) The authorities should be able to search and arrest someone simply because he or she fits a terrorist profile.
e.) Strongly Disagree

3.) Those arrested on suspicion of terrorism should be allowed to see all the evidence against them, even if it is classified.
a.) Strongly Agree

4.) The authorities should have the right to monitor telephone activity, internet usage (e-mail, URLs and IP addresses used), and to use wiretaps.
e.) Strongly Disagree

5.) Local libraries, without your knowledge and without probable cause, should be forced to turn over records to the government of books you have checked out.
e.) Strongly Disagree

6.) Students should be allowed to express their political opinions through shirts, pins, and other apparel in school.
a.) Strongly Agree

7.) Those who disagree with the suspension of certain civil liberties contained within the Patriot Act should be labeled as “unpatriotic.”
e.) Strongly Disagree

8.) The president should be able to remove protestors or people who disagree with him from his audience for speeches and press conferences.
e.) VEHEMENTLY Disagree

9.) State and Local law enforcement should have the right to apply for extended wiretapping authority.
e.) Strongly Disagree

10.) You approve of how George Bush is protecting our civil liberties.
e.) Strongly Disagree

[BeardofPants]

Sex : Female
Age : 26-35
Race/Ethnicity : NZ European
Religious Preference : N/A
Political Affiliation: Democrat
1.) Some civil liberties should be limited during times of war to better ensure security.
e.) Strongly Disagree

2.) The authorities should be able to search and arrest someone simply because he or she fits a terrorist profile.
e.) Strongly Disagree

3.) Those arrested on suspicion of terrorism should be allowed to see all the evidence against them, even if it is classified.
b.) Agree

4.) The authorities should have the right to monitor telephone activity, internet usage (e-mail, URLs and IP addresses used), and to use wiretaps.
d.) Disagree

5.) Local libraries, without your knowledge and without probable cause, should be forced to turn over records to the government of books you have checked out.
e.) Strongly Disagree

6.) Students should be allowed to express their political opinions through shirts, pins, and other apparel in school.
a.) Strongly Agree

7.) Those who disagree with the suspension of certain civil liberties contained within the Patriot Act should be labeled as “unpatriotic.”
e.) VEHEMENTLY Disagree

8.) The president should be able to remove protestors or people who disagree with him from his audience for speeches and press conferences.
e.) Strongly Disagree

9.) State and Local law enforcement should have the right to apply for extended wiretapping authority.
d.) Disagree

10.) You approve of how George Bush is protecting our civil liberties.
e.) Strongly Disagree

[Jonathan]

Hmm. Hobbit, could you explain a bit more about #4 and #9? Like, does #4 mean authorities would be able to listen to anyone's phonecalls or just the ones of people suspected of a crime? And could you elaborate what "extended wiretapping authority" in #9 means?

[-elfearz-]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Hmm. Hobbit, could you explain a bit more about #4 and #9? Like, does #4 mean authorities would be able to listen to anyone's phonecalls or just the ones of people suspected of a crime? And could you elaborate what "extended wiretapping authority" in #9 means?

Yes I second this My answers could potentially be hugely different from what they are.

[Earniel]

Civil Liberties During Wartime

Sex : Female
Age : 18-25
Race/Ethnicity : Caucasian
Religious Preference : agnostic
Political Affiliation: [not American]

1.) d
2.) e
3.) b
4.) b (if proper channels have been used to obtain permission, don't know how it is normally done in the USA)
5.) e
6.) b (except when the school has a dress code, I presume)
7.) e!
8.) d
9.) c
10.) e

[brownjenkins]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Hmm. Hobbit, could you explain a bit more about #4 and #9? Like, does #4 mean authorities would be able to listen to anyone's phonecalls or just the ones of people suspected of a crime? And could you elaborate what "extended wiretapping authority" in #9 means?

i strongly agreed with the wiretapping thing... i have no problem with allowing authorities to gather information in such a way, as long as strong laws are put into place as to how that information can be used

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by brownjenkins

i strongly agreed with the wiretapping thing... i have no problem with allowing authorities to gather information in such a way, as long as strong laws are put into place as to how that information can be used

I agree with it as long as the authorities need someone to grant them the right gather such information from one or more individuals (criminals, suspected terrorists for instance). Otherwise, if there was no one to keep an eye on them, the authorities could in theory gather pointless information about people's private lifes and just not use the info (thus avoiding the strong laws "as to how that information can be used")

[brownjenkins]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Otherwise, if there was no one to keep an eye on them, the authorities could in theory gather pointless information about people's private lifes and just not use the info (thus avoiding the strong laws "as to how that information can be used")

to that i'd say "who cares"... they should be able to watch anyone, if the person is not guilty, they have nothing to worry about

this is, in fact, the way i suspect every advanced government actually works... do you really think the CIA (or your own government's intelligence organization) follows wiretap-type laws? i highly doubt it... they wiretap whoever they want, and will continue to... the issue is how that information is allowed to be used

[Jonathan]

Well maybe the CIA can gather some useful intelligence by randomly listening to people's phonecalls. In that case, maybe the wiretap laws should be changed so they don't have to break them?

I'm more concerned about companies and firms. It could be devastating if, say American authorities read foreign companies' emails and listened to their phone conversations and used whatever information they could gather to benefit American corporations. In fact, I think it's been proved that this has actually occurred. So I think it's necessary to closely regulate who the authorities can wiretap and what can be done with the information.

[edit] Here's something that's relating to this. I found it by looking up "Echelon" in Wikipedia -

Furthermore, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey has admitted using [ECHELON] to uncover information about foreign companies using bribes to win contracts. The information was passed on to US companies and foreign governments were pressed to stop the bribes. Media coverage of a couple of such events tended to give the impression that ECHELON was being used to give the trade secrets of foreign companies to US companies.