Scenarios about 'civil liberties'
Civil liberties are the basic rights and freedoms guaranteed to individuals by law, typically protecting citizens from government overreach and ensuring personal autonomy. These include freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, due process, and equal protection under law, which have evolved through centuries of political struggle and constitutional development. In alternate history scenarios, the expansion or restriction of civil liberties often serves as a key indicator of regime type, societal values, and the relationship between citizens and the state.
What If COINTELPRO Was Never Exposed?
Exploring the alternate timeline where the FBI's secret counterintelligence program remained hidden from public view, potentially allowing domestic surveillance to evolve unchecked in American society.
What If Japanese Americans Were Never Interned?
Exploring the alternate timeline where the United States government did not authorize the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, fundamentally altering the nation's civil rights trajectory and Japanese American community development.
What If The Bill of Rights Was Never Added to The Constitution?
Exploring the alternate timeline where the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution were never ratified, fundamentally altering the development of American civil liberties, government power, and national identity.
What If The Church Committee Never Investigated Intelligence Agencies?
Exploring the alternate timeline where the 1975 Church Committee never exposed the abuses of U.S. intelligence agencies, potentially allowing unchecked surveillance powers to persist and expand into the digital age.
What If The Japanese Internment Never Happened?
Exploring the alternate timeline where Executive Order 9066 was never signed, sparing over 120,000 Japanese Americans from incarceration during World War II and fundamentally altering America's civil rights trajectory.
What If The Patriot Act Was Never Passed?
Exploring the alternate timeline where post-9/11 America took a different approach to security and civil liberties, rejecting the expansive surveillance powers granted by the USA PATRIOT Act.