Bob Johnson for Congress - Let's Try FREEDOM!
Your Congressman Voted for the so-called PATRIOT Act - and KEPT AT IT!
After 9/11, it is understandable that so many Senators and Representatives overreacted and passed legislation that is dangerously unconstitutional. However, once it was discovered how awful the so-called PATRIOT Act really was, even many Republicans (not to mention Democrats) have started to backtrack, hit the 'redo' button, take a 'mulligan' shot, etc. For example, the orignal version that was passed allowed for the government to do 'sneak and peek' searches through your bank accounts without getting a warrant as is required by the 4th Amendment. They didn't even tell you AFTER they'd DONE the search that they had gone through your financial records. Naturally, this sort of thing upsets Republicans (and even some wealthy Democrats!) so this part of the PATRIOT Act is gone. However, there have been numerous other attempts to let certain aspects of the PATRIOT Act 'sunset' out of existence, to defund it, etc., and the incumbent hasn't exactly stumbled all over himself trying to get rid of the PATRIOT Act. There was a vote to defund the PATRIOT Act, and the American Conservative Union actually considered voting to defund PATRIOT as an act of Conservatism. Our incumbent Congressman voted to keep the so-called PATRIOT Act. The current Senate version is of course 'better' (less hideous) than the House version. We certainly want to preserve some sort of legislation which will allow agencies to share information, but both versions of the PATRIOT Act go way beyond that. Sometimes if something is enough of a mess, it's easier to start over fresh. Perhaps we need such a new start in this case. Bush has gone so far in overturning our civil liberties (especially the most recent random spying on cell phone calls) that conservative law expert Bruce Fein claimed on NPR that he's more similar to King George the III than to the guy we thought we'd elected in 2000 and Fein suggested that Congress rein in Bush or even impeach him. I agree, but we're not going to challenge Bush when our Congressman is is biggest lap-dog.