Fourth Amendment Erosion: The Fallacy of the Utilitarian Approach

A current article featured on the front page of CNN.com is "Has Much Changed?" regarding domestic terrorism since the Oklahoma City bombing among other less famous acts of terrorism committed by American citizens on her soil.  The approach I've most notably noticed to systematic depletion of our fourth amendment among others has been that of the utilitarian:  the safety of all is above and more important than the privacy and protection thereof under the fourth amendment.  Now, please consider that without the leak of classified documentation from former Booz-Hamilton employee and fugitive, Edward Snowden, we'd never have publicly known of this.  We've made wide sweeping changes to our legal and law enforcement systems to ensure safety above our amendments and rights as citizens of the United States of America under a utilitarian approach, and there are quite a lot of slippery slopes there to say the least.  Granted, since 2001 there have only been a handful of successful, homegrown terrorist attacks; however, the counter argument will be that classification prevents us, the public, from knowing just how many were prevented.  So, this line of thinking and legislation can easily be argued and favored to further erode your liberties and rights under the conditions of classification without truly providing you and I with tangible results.  And as stated above, without any warrants and without any suspected evidence, you could be held indefinitely and without your birthright amendments under these same laws.  Again, you could be denied habeas corpus as an American citizen due to the utilitarian approach our legislative and executive branches have taken to domestic terrorism based upon safety of her citizens while systematically eroding their rights.  I'd like to add that the propaganda that the media perpetuates seems to lull us into thinking that this is the best and only course of action too, regardless that you're more likely to be killed by someone you know!  Where would this stop at?  Confiscation of your guns?  No longer able to write freely on the internet because it's inciting hate or is treasonous against the state?  Search and seizure without warrants?  In conclusion, I find that the utilitarian approach that our government has taken to protect us from domestic terrorism is a greater threat to us than the terrorists themselves, they (terrorists) are empowering our government to change the way we live and operate by stripping of us of what makes our nation so profound, her freedoms and Bill of Rights.

References

Lauter, D., & Pitcavage, M. (2015, April 19). Oklahoma City bombing, lessons 20 years later (Opinion) - CNN.com. Retrieved April 19, 2015, from http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/17/opinions/lauter-pitcavage-oklahoma-bombing/index.html

Rosenstand, N. (2013). The Moral of the Story (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.