Republican Adam Putnam served as Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture for the past six years. He also served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 10 years. Last month, Putnam announced that he would be running for Florida Governor in the 2018 election. Upon learning this news and conducting some research, a few policies that Putnam voted for have come under scrutiny.
In December of 2005, Putnam voted to make the Patriot Act permanent. It is unfortunate that politicians like Putnam fail to realize the many flaws associated with the Patriot Act. When Bush originally signed the Patriot Act into law, he asserted that it would only permit the surveillance of communications made by terrorists, but in reality, it does much more. Is Putnam truly qualified to serve as governor when he has a track record of supporting policies that infringe on the privacy rights of average Americans?
One of the biggest problems with the Patriot Act is that it collects data from millions of Americans without their knowledge. This includes, but is not limited to, caller numbers, reciever numbers, the time/location of calls, and the like. By piecing together bits of metadata, the NSA is able to learn about potential relationships, possible heart conditions, and much more. This data is stored for five years.
