February 9, 2010
Dear William,
Taking away our freedoms is not Patriotic. In fact, there is nothing more un-American.
The badly misnamed Patriot Act is not the Act of Patriots. It is the act of petty tyrants seeking more and more power and control over our country.
Now, ever so quietly, the Obama administration is working with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to sneak reauthorization of the Patriot Act through without creating a stir among liberty-minded Americans.
Well, I'm for making a stir. A BIG STIR.
How about you?
We’ve all heard the defenses. How the Patriot Act was needed to combat “terrorism.” How it would not be used against U.S. citizens.
How it would not be abused.
These lies have all been clearly exposed. For eight years, the American people have ignored the wisdom of our founding fathers and traded freedom for security – and as predicted, we are losing both as a result.
And now, Congress and the White House are set to reauthorize the so-called Patriot Act.
They have until the end of this month to act. Even talk about a window-dressing “reform” bill has stopped. The Mainstream Media, fixated on Obama and tea party rallies, doesn’t say a word about it.
Frankly, you and I know the Patriot Act should be scrapped, or at least massively re-written to block federal snoops from casting fishing nets over the lives, histories and data of hard-working Americans.
Unless you and I act today, however, this won’t happen. . .
. . . and the Patriot Act will be reauthorized for another five years or more without hardly a peep or a dissent.
The weak link for the snoop-state insiders remains the U.S. Senate -- where one Big Government boondoggle after another has been bottled up or defeated.
But my contacts in the Senate say there's not hardly a peep of opposition to the Patriot Act being heard right now. They say they are willing to fight -- some even admit privately it was a mistake supporting it the first time when President Bush demanded it in the midst of the outrage following the 9/11 attacks.
But no one will take this on unless there is a shout of opposition from the American people.
That’s why I urge you to let Senator Barbara Boxer and Senator Dianne Feinstein hear from you today. Please click here to sign our Liberty Petition, demanding your senators allow the Patriot Act to expire.
If we do not stop this reauthorization, we’ll see a whole lot more of what we’ve gotten over the last eight years:
As you well know, this isn’t some conspiracy theory. This is happening all around us.*** Federal and State law enforcement on fishing expeditions, searching telephone, email, medical, financial, and other records looking for a needle in a haystack – and abridging the freedom of law abiding citizens everywhere.
*** Warrantless searches and roving wiretaps, paying telephone providers for access to TRILLIONS of phone records and ignoring Fourth Amendment protections.
*** Broad powers for the Treasury Department and Immigrations Department to rewrite regulations, access records, and conduct proceedings in secret.
*** Holding American citizens in violation of their constitutional rights simply because someone in the government has declared them an “enemy combatant.”
*** Vast amounts of electronic data on virtually every American swept up by insider arrangements and purchases from phone companies, airlines and other businesses afraid to say no to a government “request.”
And you and I can help put a stop to it today.
One of the most egregious abuses of the Constitution, using the Patriot Act as its basis, is so-called National Security letters, used commonly by the FBI.
It has been estimated that the FBI has used these NSLs – which allow access to records WITHOUT any court or search warrant – at least 50,000 times since 2001.
Just one example, noted in BusinessWeek in 2005, showed that the FBI had issued tens of thousands of NSLs and had obtained one million financial, credit, employment, and health records from the customers of targeted Las Vegas businesses. Selected businesses included casinos, storage warehouses and car rental agencies.
And that’s just one case.
Our federal government is out of control, and every day we see it attempting to abridge more of our constitutional rights.
We know they’d take away our Second Amendment rights in a heartbeat if they could, and we must also remain vigilant to this threat.
They’re spending us and our children into poverty, with crushing trillion dollar deficits.
And they’re allowing the out of control Fed to ruin the dollar and push forward toward the collapse of our currency and way of life.
All of these are vital fights.
But none are more critical at the moment than taking back our freedoms from the statists and power-hungry federal thugs who use the Patriot Act to dig into every aspect of American lives under the false pretense of making us safer.
We cannot be a free nation and have this un-American law on the books.
Liberty-minded Americans from the left and the right are outraged. But outrage alone won’t be enough. Every single one of us must take action today.
Campaign for Liberty has a three point plan to get as many senators as possible to vote against the Patriot Act:
Public pressure works. Think of the agenda items that are stalled in Congress in no small part due to pressure from outraged citizens. Socialized Medicine. Big Labor’s Card Check. Gun grabbing bills. You name it; we’re beating it back.** Your Petitions, and hundreds of thousands like them, will be delivered to the Senate, showing the tidal wave of opposition to the Patriot Act. You can sign by clicking HERE.
** Editorials and Op-Eds across the country to help swing the tide of public opinion to oppose this dangerous abuse of power.
** TV and Radio Ads in targeted states. As you may recall, our program has helped keep Socialized medicine from becoming a reality.
The time is now to turn our attention to stopping the Patriot Act in its tracks.
The issue already became hot enough that the Senate could only muster a 60 day extension of the bill because of the threat of a Senate filibuster back in December. But now the politicians think all is clear. There is silence on this issue.
Well, I think it's time for them to hear us loud and clear.
Remember, the statists need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. We can and must win this fight.
Please join us and help Campaign for Liberty win this fight by signing your Petition and by making a contribution today.
In Liberty,
John Tate
President
P.S.: If you and I don’t take the lead, I’m certain the Patriot Act will be renewed, and we will continue to have our freedom and our private information taken away by our government.
You and I need to shine a bright spotlight on what Congress hopes will be a quiet fight.
Please help Campaign for Liberty wage this fight today by signing your Liberty Petition and by making a contribution to Campaign for Liberty if you can.
