By Senator Russ Feingold
t r u t h o u t
As Congress considers making parts of the USA Patriot Act permanent, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee hails the passage of the 400th resolution (see below) upholding its residents' essential liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Following are excerpts from Senator Feingold's statement regarding his considered issues concerning the reauthorization of the Patriot Act. I, for one, thank the Senator for sticking to his guns and taking a principled stand:
Feingold:
[...] Last Thursday, after the conference deal was announced, the Attorney General termed it a "win for the American people in that it will result in continued security for the United States and also continued protection of civil liberties for all Americans." In a way, that comment shows that we have made progress. The Administration seems to understand that protecting civil liberties is important to our citizens. That's quite an improvement from the days when people who expressed these concerns were termed "hysterical." But the Attorney General also said: "people have seen how the Department of Justice has been very responsible in exercising (its) authorities."
This comment reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship of the government and the governed in our democracy. Trust of government cannot be demanded, or asserted, or assumed, it must be earned. And this government has not earned our trust. It has fought reasonable safeguards for constitutional freedoms every step of the way. It has resisted congressional oversight and often misled the public about its use of the Patriot Act And now the Attorney General is arguing that the conference report is adequate "protection for civil liberties for all Americans." It isn't.
We sun-setted 16 provisions of the original Patriot Act precisely so we could revisit them and make necessary changes - to make improvements based on the experience of four years with the Act, and with the careful deliberation and debate that, quite frankly, was missing four years ago. Well, Mr. President, this process of reauthorization has certainly generated debate, but if we pass the conference report as currently written, we will have wasted a lot of time and missed our opportunity to finally get it right.
The American people will not be happy with us for missing that chance. They will not accept our explanation that we decided to wait another four years before really addressing their concerns. They will not settle for half a loaf because we ran out of time to reach consensus. Mr. President, I submit that an acceptable consensus was reached by the Senate back in July. We should insist that the House pass that bill, and give the American people a reauthorization bill that is worthy of their support, and their confidence. I am prepared to keep fighting for as long as it takes to make that happen. Read more.
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400th Resolution Challenges PATRIOT Act Reauthorization
Author: Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Published on Dec 15, 2005, 09:27
As Congress considers making parts of the USA PATRIOT Act permanent, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (http://bordc.org/) hails the passage of the 400th resolution upholding its residents' essential liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. On Tuesday, Coupeville, Washington, joined seven states and 392 cities and counties that have taken stands against the PATRIOT Act's infringements on the U.S. Constitution. The Coupeville Town Council's vote was unanimous.
Residents of Coupeville join more than 62 million U.S. residents in "civil liberties safe zones," towns, cities, counties and states that have passed resolutions to protect and affirm civil liberties in the face of a broad expansion of government surveillance powers post-9/11. "There was an urgency to get this resolution passed before the year ends," said Che Gilliland, of Coupeville Peace and Reconciliation. "We wanted to show Congress how serious we are about protecting our liberties, especially with both the PATRIOT Act vote and the Bill of Rights anniversary coming up this week."
New resolutions are not the only front in this grassroots campaign to stop or at least slow down the PATRIOT Act reauthorization. "Millions of people are phoning and faxing their members of Congress, urging them to support plans for a filibuster and a three-month continuing resolution in order to stop the runaway reauthorization process," said Nancy Talanian, executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (http://bordc.org/), a national group that educates the American public about threats to liberties and helps people convert their concerns into meaningful action.
Talanian reports that the resolutions passed in small towns and large cities, including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and Philadelphia, represent a cross-section of ordinary Americans who value freedom, including conservatives and gun owners. "The passage of 400 resolutions representing 62 million people is the result of people across the political spectrum joining together within their communities to reaffirm the Bill of Rights."
Since the BORDC formed in November 2001, community-based organizations have used BORDC's strategies, organizing assistance, community networking, and web-based resources to pass 400 resolutions and ordinances in 43 states, including statewide resolutions in Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, and Vermont.
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