President Bush is once again using fear to quickly push through an extension/renewal of the Patriot Act. “We must not allow the passage of time or the illusion of safety to weaken our resolve in this new war.”
A press release by the ACLU notes that as “10% of that act is set to sunset at the end of this year,” the country deserves, in the words of the 9/11 Commission, “a full and informed debate on the Patriot Act.” The American people are all too happy to take part in the discussion, 371 communities in 43 states “passed resolutions demanding that the Patriot Act be fixed and brought back in line with the Constitution.”
“Most of the Patriot Act is innocuous from a civil liberties viewpoint, but a few select powers raise constitutional red flags.” These flags need to be addressed and re-colored. For a president who is “spreading democracy” around the world, domestic scare tactics are all too totalitarian.
