The New Patriot Act is a public, continuously updated ledger documenting changes in U.S. law, executive authority, and institutional power that affect civil liberties, democratic consent, and the balance between the state and the public.
The site exists for one primary purpose: to record.
Not to persuade. Not to inflame. Not to predict outcomes or assign intent. But to preserve a clear, structured, and source-grounded record of how power changes over time.
Why This Exists
In moments of political stress, governments often expand authority through laws, executive actions, court decisions, and administrative rules. These changes are frequently framed as technical, temporary, or routine. Over time, they become normalized.
History shows that once such powers are normalized, they are rarely rolled back — and often reused in contexts far removed from their original justification.
The original USA PATRIOT Act is a defining example: enacted rapidly, justified by emergency, and later embedded permanently into the legal and institutional framework of the United States.
The New Patriot Act exists to ensure that similar changes in the present era are not lost to fragmentation, news cycles, or institutional amnesia.
What This Site Is
- A ledger, not a blog
- A record, not an argument
- A reference, not a call to action
Each entry documents a specific change — a law, executive order, court ruling, regulation, or funding decision — using a consistent structure so that changes can be compared over time.
Every entry is:
- Date-stamped
- Categorized by domain (civil liberties, surveillance, immigration, speech, policing, military, etc.)
- Linked directly to primary source documents
- Separated from opinion or speculative analysis
Consent & Transparency
In addition to recording what changed, entries include a standardized Consent Audit that documents:
- How the change was enacted (standalone legislation, bundled bill, administrative action, emergency authority, etc.)
- Whether there was public debate or recorded voting
- Whether the change includes review mechanisms or sunset clauses
The Consent Audit is not a judgment of legitimacy. It is a descriptive tool designed to capture how democratic consent was obtained, limited, or bypassed.
What This Site Is Not
To maintain credibility and long-term usefulness, this project explicitly avoids:
- Partisan advocacy
- Predictive claims ("this will lead to…")
- Emotional or moralized language within ledger entries
- Calls to action or political organizing
- Claims of intent or motivation not stated in official sources
Interpretation, historical comparison, and reflection — when present — are clearly separated from the factual record.
Automation & Editorial Control
To ensure comprehensive coverage, portions of this site are generated through automated collection of official government sources. Automation is used only to:
- Identify new official actions
- Structure factual metadata
- Link source documentation
All entries are reviewed before publication. Automation assists with coverage; editorial judgment governs inclusion, emphasis, and expansion.
A Note on Neutrality
Neutrality here does not mean indifference.
It means that the historical record is preserved without distortion, so that citizens, journalists, researchers, and future readers can reach their own conclusions based on documented facts.
Power is most dangerous when it is invisible. This project exists to make it legible.
Attribution
This site is independently maintained. It is not affiliated with any political party, campaign, or government entity.
All sources are cited. Corrections are made transparently when errors are identified.
If you are looking for arguments, many exist elsewhere.
If you are looking for a record — this is that record.
The New Patriot Act 