Pros And Cons Of The Constitution

The constitution is the cornerstone to how the U.S. operates legally, unfortunately many times the government attempts to find loopholes and skirt around these pillars of America. An easy example is the 4th amendment, “protection from unreasonable searches and seizures”.

Constantly the government and law enforcement attempt to push back the line of what the 4th amendment covers. A recent example is “stop-and-frisk” or the “Terry Stop”. This law allowed officers in New York City and other places in the country to stop people on the street based on “reasonable suspicion”, instead of a warrant, and search them for weapons and other criminal activity. While this law was ruled constitutional, I personally disagree with the court ruling. An officer

can say that they search someone due to probable cause and reasonable suspicion, but a lot of times this leads to profiling and unjust searches.
The founding fathers did not intend for such laws to be created. Some would argue that that the constitution is living and we interpret it based on the current times, while I do agree with this, “stop-and-frisk” is not a healthy interpretation. Other examples include the FBI and CIA spying on citizens through the web, and illegal searching of homes and cars by police.
A common phrase tossed around is that “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about”. But that is not the point; it is the principle and our rights as citizens. The government is playing a dangerous game with the American citizens. When a government infringes on the privacy of its people, even if it’s for protection, they lose trust in the government, feel unsafe for fear of always being watched, break the social contract, and view the government in a darker almost dictatorship light. The 4th amendment is incredibly essential for the relationship between the American people and its government, making it the number one amendment.