Restore Civil Liberties:

Repeal the Patriot Act and

The Military Commissions Act


"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty or Safety."

 - Benjamin Franklin

 

In the wake of the terrorist attack of 9/11 the neocons in the Bush administration bamboozled a compliant Congress into passing the USA Patriot Act. The Congress was already prepared to further erode the civil liberties of American citizens as a result of the passage of the Clinton administration’s “Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996” -- the direct predecessor of the Patriot Act.

I demand the repeal of the USA Patriot Act and the restoration of civil liberties. The USA Patriot Act and associated executive orders now threaten freedom of speech and peaceful assembly, the assistance of counsel in criminal prosecutions and due process concerning deprivations of life, liberty or property and protection from unreasonable search and seizures by:

• Authorizing the indefinite incarceration of citizens designated as “enemy combatants,” without access to counsel or meaningful recourse to the courts;

• Authorizing indefinite incarceration of non-citizens based upon mere suspicion, without access to counsel or meaningful recourse to the courts;

• Substantially reducing judicial supervision of telephone and Internet surveillance;

• Substantially expanding the government’s ability to conduct secret searches;

• Granting the U.S. Attorney General and Secretary of State the power to designate domestic groups conducting legitimate activity as “terrorist organizations;”

• Granting the Federal Bureau of Investigation broad access to sensitive medical, mental health, financial, library, bookstore purchase and educational records about individuals without having to show evidence of a crime and without presenting or even obtaining a court order;

• Imposing prosecution on any keeper of records who divulges the search; and

• Allowing secret searches of homes and offices, thus undermining an individual’s right to be secure in one’s home without facing unreasonable searches and seizures;

The USA Patriot Act effectively destroys the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth and 14th amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

Republicans and Democrats are even now considering a reauthorized Patriot Act. George W. Bush has called for the permanent placement of the Patriot Act. Although national security is undeniably important, the renewal of the USA Patriot Act demonstrates that Democratic and Republican legislators do not value protecting the civil liberties of Americans. A reauthorized USA Patriot Act would jeopardize America’s freedoms, and lead to widespread surveillance of U.S. citizens, especially those with dissenting political opinions, without court-authorized warrants based on probable cause. The Patriot Act expands on the Clinton administration’s 1996 “Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act”, which limited habeas corpus.

Especially dangerous are the Act's provisions allowing unwarranted roving wiretaps and seizure of library, hospital, and business records in order to 'fish' for evidence of conspiracy. Section 602 of the new version felonizes display of unauthorized signs at 'National Special Security Events', such as Democratic or Republican National Conventions and presidential and vice presidential appearances.

While securing our liberties and protecting our rights are among the primary purposes of the United States government, we must not support sacrificing our liberties and curtailing our rights in the name of military security.

Mr. Joe Pitts, the Republican congressman from the sixteenth district, didn't even read the Patriot Act before he voted for one of the most sweeping assaults on civil liberties in modern times. The Bill of Rights guarantees the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects. Perhaps Mr. Pitts didn't bother to read the Constitution either. On December 14, 2005, Mr. Pitts actually voted to EXPAND the powers of the Patriot Act.

For five years, the NSA has been reading email and tapping phones without warrant, forbidden activities according to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. Bipartisan Congress passed the "Protect America Act" (nicknamed the "Police America Act") before the summer recess, to make such spying on citizens legal. Even though this monstrous law has expired, spying on American citizens begun under the Protect America Act are permitted to continue for up to one year.

 

MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT


The Military Commissions Act of 2006 strips detainees of the right to file habeas corpus petitions to challenge their own detention or treatment. It expands the definition of an enemy combatant and gives the president the power to detain them indefinitely – including US citizens. Secret and coerced evidence could be used to try detainees held in U.S. military prisons. The bill also immunizes U.S. officials from prosecution for torturing detainees captured before the end of last year.

In the final hours before adjourning in 2006, Congress passed and the president signed the Military Commissions Act (MCA). In doing so, they cast aside the Constitution and the principle of habeas corpus, which protects against unlawful and indefinite imprisonment. They also gave the president absolute power to designate enemy combatants, and to set his own definitions for torture.

Habeas corpus isn't a fancy legal term. It's the freedom from being thrown in prison illegally, with no help and no end in sight. No president should ever be given the power to call someone an enemy, wave his hand, and lock them away indefinitely. The Founders made the president subject to the rule of law. They rejected dungeons and chose due process.

We all know the difference between fairness and persecution. If we do not act immediately to repeal the Military Commissions Act and restore our constitutional rights, basic protections like habeas corpus could be lost forever, and our country would become unrecognizable.

What's wrong with the Military Commissions Act (MCA):

• UNDERMINES THE CONSTITUTION AND
THE RULE OF LAW
• MAKES THE PRESIDENT BOTH JUDGE AND JURY
• REJECTS CORE AMERICAN VALUES

The MCA eliminates the constitutional due process right of habeas corpus for detainees at Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere. It allows our government to continue to hold hundreds of prisoners for more than five years without charges.

It also gives any president the power to declare — on his or her own — who is an enemy combatant, decide who should be held indefinitely without being charged with a crime and define what is — and what is not — torture and abuse.


The MCA lets the USA indefinitely hold people without charge, take away protections against horrific abuse, put people on trial based on hearsay evidence, authorize trials that can sentence people to death based on testimony literally beaten out of witnesses, and slam shut the courthouse door for habeas petitions.

Our Constitution is what distinguishes America from other countries. It's what makes us Americans. To do away with its protections makes us more like those we are fighting against.

I demand the repeal of the "Military Commissions Act". Congress made a mistake when they supported the MCA in 2006. But the ultimate responsibility lies with us, the people. We know what America stands for, at home and abroad. We have the power and the obligation to call on Congress to correct its mistake and restore habeas corpus and all the constitutional and due process rights they took away.

The people need to keep an eye on the government, not the other way around. When elected, I will defend the privacy of every American. I can read the Constitution and I will honor my oath to defend it; not destroy it. We must repeal the Patriot Act; The Military Commissions Act and fire Mr. Pitts.


The Shock Doctrine as detailed by Naomi Klein in her book of the same name indicates that just as individuals who are placed in a state of shock can be forced to do just about anything, so also events such as natural disasters or terrorist attacks can be used while an entire nation is in shock (9/11) to implement legislation that would have never otherwise have been able to be enacted.
It was essentially the use of the Shock Doctrine by Milton Friedman and his followers that permitted the development what is called euphemistically "Free Market" economics, ultimately destroying not only the United States economy (no increase in the standard of living in the USA since 1973) but the economies of third world countries.
This same phenomena was used by the Bush administration and the Democrat Congress after 9/11 to institute laws which have virtually destroyed our civil liberties. All of this occurring because the nation was too much in a state of shock to understand what was taking place.

HERE IS A BRIEF (6 MINUTE) VIDEO EXPLAINING
"THE SHOCK DOCTRINE"


If video fails to play, simply try again or click on the other arrow. If it still won't play go to this web site:

http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/short-film

 

Thank you, John Murphy

"The Corporate-Free Candidate"