"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
Today the Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill to expand Federal domestic surveillance powers and grant retroactive immunity to telecommunication companies for aiding the federal government in spying on American citizens.
I'm furious. Our elected officials in the federal government have made it clear what their priorities are, and it isn't upholding the Constitution or looking out for the rights of the American people. I will never vote for the reelection of Congressman Chabot, Senator Voinovich, or anyone else who supported this act. In fact, I plan to write both of their offices and tell them this. It's not much, but it's something. I'm tired of people saying that there's nothing that can be done about it. The solution is actually fairly simple: stop voting for them!! These people have willfully betrayed the Constitution and the American people. In my mind they are traitors and should be dealt with as such.
We elect people to go to Washington to speak and vote on our behalf; anyone whose votes show their lack of respect for the principles this country was founded on does not speak for me. Senator Obama ultimately voted in favor of the bill, which is the last straw for my declining support of him. He does not care about the Constitution. He does not care about the rights of the American people. His "change" is a lie. I do not want him to be my president. Even Hillary Clinton voted against this bill!
At least John McCain hasn't tried to hide the fact that he's a disciple of Bush and will unapologetically continue to expand the executive branch while eroding civil liberties. I've come to the conclusion that Barack Obama may actually be worse--he's guilty of manipulating people into believe in a movement towards change, and once the Democratic nomination was secured, he's shown his true colors.
Not that it ultimately matters which one of them is elected; they'll both continue to expand the powers of the executive branch at the expense of checks and balances, the Constitution, and our civil liberties. Not that any of those things are important to Americans--not if they can continue to grow fat and watch reality t.v. with the false illusion of safety. Getting angry and actually taking action requires too much thought. We are sheep, and I fear we're letting ourselves be led to the slaughter.
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2 comments:
super frustrated about that myself. enough that i told off an obama campaign junior staffer today... not that it'll fix anything, but i am pissed about the flip flop on FISA and on merit based pay for teachers.
although one thing this campaign has taught me is that most issues aren't black and white (no pun intended) and i really can't afford to oversimplify every issue into those terms. let's hope that if obama is elected, his executive branch will direct the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to more constitutionally-sound principles and action...
At this point I agree that hoping for that is about all we can do. Clearly we won't get that kind of change from McCain; he'll likely continue down Bush's path of eroding civil liberties and privacy. While I don't know if I can rationalize a vote for Obama instead of a candidate I really agree with--like Bob Barr--I have to admit that I'd rather see him in the White House than McCain.
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