As an American citizen, I love my freedoms. The freedom to do and believe as I wish represents basic rights that I never take for granted.

My life is basic. Go to work, come home, go play, sometimes just sit around; basically, I do whatever I want with no intervention or unreasonable restrictions from the government.

With all basics intended, I do as I want and there are no reasons why I shouldn’t. But there are those among us who want us to think otherwise. They base their paranoia on the Patriot Act.

Sure, Big Brother is watching with the KH-11, KH-12, Lacrosse, Onyx and Vega satellites. Big Brother can monitor phone and e-mail communications. Search warrants are easier to obtain. You can be detained without rights as an enemy combatant. These are harsh realities of post 9/11 modern day life. But I’m not worried – I’m not a terrorist.

After Sept. 11, it became apparent who the real enemy is and what must be done to keep us safe from that enemy’s reach. It has become the job of the government to spot and scrutinize erratic behavior by certain individuals.

Well, accessing online porn sites, owning legal guns – not automatic weapons – attending a peace rally or speaking out against the current administration is not in the realm of erratic.

These fall under your basic rights as an American citizen. By the way, these are all things that will get you arrested in some other countries, but not the USA.

I get a kick from “civil libertarians” that make outrageous claims of how Big Brother is constantly spying on them because they spoke out against the war in Iraq or they petition the government.

There are bigger, meaner people to go after in the eyes of Big Brother and they don’t include you (or me for that matter). You’re the average American citizen with a point of view and that is all.

There is nothing wrong with protesting a war. War sucks, I agree. But when you get arrested for blocking traffic, vandalizing businesses, trespassing or anything that is a clear violation of laws, it is not your politics that are in question under the Patriot Act, it is your ability to understand basic laws, rules and ordinances.

Then there are those that believe the Patriot Act is an anti-Islamic entity. Remember Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols? Remember the Oklahoma City bombing? If you do then you’ll also remember that Timmy and Terry where white and Christian. Terry is rotting in prison for life and Timmy is burning in hell from a lethal injection. By the way, they were also terrorists in belief and practice.

Those who enforce the Patriot Act are too busy with real threats to even waste any time on the average American. It is the not-so-average American that is of concern.

David Koresh and his following in Waco, Texas were not-so-average Americans. They stockpiled automatic weapons and explosives without any permits and with intent to use them, which they did.

Sure, they were a religious people, but why so many lethal weapons in their possession? I guess if Armageddon wasn’t going to come to them they were willing to go to it. They all perished in the process.

One can argue that laws are designed to control and pacify the masses. But the fact and the reality are that laws in their current writing are designed to protect the average American and even sometimes terrorists. In fact, the scum that hijacked and rammed those planes on 9/11 used our laws and rules to blend in as average Americans and concoct their evil plans.

So to all of you whiny liberals that feel their rights are being trampled under the Patriot Act, let me offer this piece of advice: Move on with your lives. It is not about you. You’re just like me: the average American. And as I stated before, I am not a terrorist and I’m sure neither are you.

Henry Sarria is a longtime Isla Vista resident.