We’ve heard it before. If the government is forced to stop its mass surveillance of American citizens, the sky will fall and we will be put at risk of attack.
That, of course, is what the defenders of allowing the NSA, the FBI and even the DEA to gather up our phone records, emails, and financial information are saying as Congress decides whether and how to extend anti-privacy provisions of the Patriot Act — provisions that thankfully expired Sunday night.
That’s what they say, even though the FBI can’t point to any terrorist attacks that have been thwarted by the mass surveillance programs.
The good news: FINALLY, those of us who have long viewed the Patriot Act as an insult to civil liberties are being heard. Frankly, the simple fact that Congress is even having a debate about warrantless searches and allowing the government to gather up massive amounts of our personal data is progress — and proof that grassroots action works.
The bad news: When Congress finishes amending, hand-wringing and debating the extension of parts of the Patriot Act, the result will undoubtedly be an extension of the government’s surveillance activities — with some modest alterations.
What does that mean? It means that the fight isn’t over. Restoring the 4th Amendment’s protections of our privacy won’t happen overnight — and won’t happen until the millions of Americans who truly care about the Constitution and its protections are mobilized to demand it.
That, in a nutshell, is the mission of the Our America Initiative: To give voice to the principles of liberty, including freedom from the modern-day equivalent of general warrants that the Patriot Act allows. How ironic is it that, right now, Congress is debating how to best conduct high-tech versions of the very kinds of searches that prompted the Revolutionary War?
I guess the politicians were absent that day in History Class.
Your financial support is essential to Our America’s mission. We can’t do it without you. Our fights to restore the 4th Amendment, to insure that liberty is on the stage in next year’s Presidential Debates, and to protect individual and economic freedom ALL require the resources to communicate via social media, to mobilize activists in all 50 states — and to make sure we are heard when the politicians are making decisions.
This week’s battle in Washington, DC, over the Patriot Act is proof that activism can work. But it is just a small step toward restoring liberty as the real American value. Your contribution today of $10, $25, $50, $100, $500 or more will make it possible for us to take more steps.
I’m counting on you.
Thanks!
Gov. Gary Johnson
Honorary Chairman