There you have it. Sinkspur's view is based on his deep-down suspicion that taking whatever the people in power dish out makes him less of a man, and resentment of those who show him up in that regard.
One of the things that we are supposed to do with our faculty for reason and adaptation is to confront each new issue and challenge with solutions that work within the framework of American ideals I'm glad you agree that, if you don't like the constraints of the United States Consitution as written, your one and only recourse is to amend it via the procedures laid out in Article V.
Weaseling and redefinition to evade the rules are not "American ideals", Billzebubba and his sycophants notwithstanding.
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200303/030403a.html Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy
Hearing On
“The War Against Terrorism:
Working Together To Protect America”
March 4, 2003
< deletia >
DOJ Secrecy in Drafting Sequel To USA PATRIOT Act
Last month, a secret draft bill entitled the “Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003” was leaked to the press and posted on the Web. This is the so-called sequel to the USA PATRIOT Act.
It was not the first time in the last two years that members of this Committee have learned what the Justice Department is doing by reading about it in the morning paper. Unfortunately, the Department – and the entire Administration – prefers to shroud its every move in secrecy.
For months, Department officials have hidden the fact that they were drafting another anti-terrorism package.
A member of my staff called the Department just five days before the draft bill was leaked, after hearing yet another rumor of its existence; she was told point-blank that there was no bill in the works. Five days later, we have an 86-page bill and 33-page sectional analysis. That was either some very fast work by the Department, or an out-and-out misstatement. I hope the Attorney General will have an explanation for us this morning.
The substance of the proposal, as leaked, mirrors the secretive and autocratic process with which it was produced. We do not yet know whether we went too far, or not far enough, in authorizing new government powers in the USA PATRIOT Act, both because it has been little over a year since its passage, and because the Administration has been exceptionally uncooperative with the Senate and House oversight committees about how it is using these new powers.
Yet the leaked proposal would go much farther in granting the government more surveillance powers over American citizens, while drastically curtailing the ability of Congress, the courts and the American people to find out what the government is doing .
Whatever this stealth bill is ultimately called, let it not be called “USA PATRIOT II.” There is nothing patriotic about the secret, evasive, partisan and divisive process that produced it.
If there is going to be a sequel to the USA PATRIOT Act, the process of writing it should be open and accountable. We should have a free and open debate about any additional powers that law enforcement may need to preserve Americans’ security, and any additional checks on the powers of law enforcement that may be needed to preserve Americans’ fundamental liberties. Good ideas will prevail in such a debate, and bad ideas will be rejected. That is the American way.
I urge the Justice Department to consult with us – with Republicans and Democrats, together – before, not after, any proposals are formally transmitted to Congress.
IS there such a thing as Patriot II? The last thread on this it was concluded that it does not exist.