Give Me Liberty!

by Gerry Spence

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Student Question

How did the "war on terror" affect the economy and American liberties according to Give Me Liberty! chapter 27?

Quick answer:

The "war on terror" significantly impacted the U.S. economy by boosting military and security sectors, creating numerous jobs. It also eroded American liberties, as highlighted in Give Me Liberty! chapter 27. Privacy and due process rights were compromised, with government surveillance and detention practices bypassing constitutional guarantees. Suspected terrorists faced harsh interrogation methods. However, Supreme Court rulings in 2005 and 2008 partially restored prisoners' rights, reinforcing constitutional protections against arbitrary arrest.

Expert Answers

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The so-called war on terror affected the economy and American liberties because it gave the military and its adjacent industries lots of money and eroded rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

In chapter 27, Eric Foner doesn’t delve deeply into how the war on terror impacted America’s economy. Foner does say, “In every index of power—military, economic, cultural—the United States far outpaced the rest of the world.” The shock of the attacks seemed to have arrested America’s dominant economy for a bit. Soon, the economy was growing again—particularly in sectors involved with military and security matters, since the war on terror created a notable amount of new jobs in these areas.

As for liberties, Foner focuses on this topic. In the “Security and Liberty” section, he discusses how the war compromised the rights of citizens. Privacy and due process no longer seemed like such a guarantee, with the government authorized to, more or less, spy on citizens and detain suspected terrorists without charging them, giving them a lawyer, or granting them a fair, impartial, public trial.

Additionally, the suspected terrorists captured by the United States and its allies no longer had the right to be treated humanely. Foner writes, “The Defense Department approved methods of interrogation that most observers considered torture.”

However, two rulings by the Supreme Court—one in 2005 and another in 2008—appeared to have restored certain liberties to prisoners. In “The Court and the President,” Foner writes the justices reinforced the Constitution’s guarantee of “freedom from arbitrary arrest and the right of a person to go to court to challenge his or her imprisonment.”

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