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20 December 2005
Congressman Elton Gallegley
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Congressman Gallegley:
Now that the renewal of the Patriot Act seems "on hold", perhaps time should be taken to improve how that legislation protects our liberties.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither their liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin
The warrantless eavesdropping by the President's administration on the phone calls and E-mail of United States citizens should trouble both liberals and conservatives.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
U.S. Constitution, Fourth Amendment
[emphasis added]
I strongly urge that no further action be taken to extend the Patriot Act until phone taps and E-mail surveillance by Presidential edict is prohibited. Otherwise, our government will descend into the same abusive regime as those totalitarian states we condemn. We will become the kind of nation the terrorists want to create: They will have won the war.
Sincerely,
David E. Ross
President Bush acknowledges that he indeed directed the National Security Agency (NSA) to eavesdrop on phone calls made by U.S. citizens and to intercept our E-mail messages without getting any court to issue a warrant. Bush called the disclosure of this program to The New York Times "a shameful act."
President Bush is quite wrong! Not only is such government intrusion into our private lives prohibited by the Constitution, but it is also against the law. Disclosure was not "a shameful act." It was an act of patriotism.
30 December 2005
