Conservatives Calling for Repeal or Examination of USA PATRIOT Act:BORDC

[tinydancer]

Let's put to rest that there were no conservatives that were against the Patriot Act.

Conservatives Calling for Repeal or Examination of USA PATRIOT Act

Conservatives, who have traditionally stood for limited government and individual liberty, are as concerned about the USA PATRIOT Act and related legislation as liberals. Prominent conservative groups and individuals against the Act include:

Groups:
The Cato Institute
Free Congress Foundation
Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances

Individuals:
Dick Armey, former Republican member of Congress
Bob Barr, former Republican member of Congress (American Conservative Union, Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances)
David Keene (President of the American Conservative Union)
Peyton Knight (American Policy Center)
Grover Norquist (President of Americans for Tax Reform)
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)
William Safire (columnist for the New York Times)
Phyllis Schlafly (founder of the Eagle Forum)
Lori Waters (Executive Director of the Eagle Forum)

August 10, 2005, Amy Sowder, Pensacola News Journal, Ex-lawmaker blasts Patriot Act: Republican Barr warns of privacy issues

June 15, 2005, Pastor Chuck Baldwin, NewsWithViews.com, Patriot Act is Dismantling Constitutional Guaranteed Liberties

June 13, 2005, Alan Caruba, Canada Free Press, Can Patriots Survive the Patriot Act?

June 12, 2005, Tom Hamburger, Los Angeles Times, Patriot Act Push Angers Some on Right

May 17, 2005, Bob Barr, The Washington Times, Clearing the air on the Patriot Act

April 10, 2005, Nolan Finley, The Detroit News, Five reasons why conservatives should fight the Patriot Act

March 25, 2005, Abid Aslam, OneWorld US, Left-Right Coalition Rises to Oppose USA Patriot Act Provisions

June 3, 2004, Paul M. Weyrich & David Keene, The American Spectator, Oversee the PATRIOT Act

May 31, 2004, Ron Paul, Texas Straight Talk, Freedom vs. Security: A False Choice

May 18, 2004, Bob Barr, Testimony before the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security at a Hearing on H.R. 3179, the "Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Tools Improvement Act of 2003"

February 25, 2004, Bob Barr, Washington Times, Attitude Adjustment at TSA

November 11, 2003, Newt Gingrich, San Francisco Chronicle, The Policies of War Refocus the Mission

"We must ensure that the legal tools provided are not abused, and indeed, that they do not undermine the very foundation our country was built upon. . . I strongly believe the Patriot Act was not created to be used in crimes unrelated to terrorism."

August 21, 2003, Timothy Lynch, National Review Online, Patriotic Questions: Addressing the Patriot Act

"Reasonable people can and will disagree about the proper scope of the government's surveillance powers in the post-9/11 environment, but the stakes need to be clearly understood — and that cannot happen when government officials employ doublespeak, such as by using the terms 'liberty' and 'coercion' as if they were interchangeable."

October 20, 2003, Byron York, National Review Online, Norquist and Keene Join Baldwin and Neas

For an example of how threats to civil liberties bring together people and organizations from across the political spectrum, see this sign-on letter opposing the Domestic Security Enhancement Act (aka "Patriot II).

Links to a quizzillion other links on this topic as well.

BORDC: Conservatives Calling for Repeal or Examination of Patriot Act

 

[Seawytch]

Only one Senator voted against the original Patriot Act, Russ Feingold. Only 10 senators voted against reauthorization. in 2006, all Democrats. 8 voted nay in 2011...4 Dems, 3 GOP and 1 independent.

In the House, 3 Republicans joined 62 Dems and 1 independent to vote nay in 2001. By 2006 it was 13 Republicans, 124 Dems and that one independent. In 2011, only 54 Dems in the House voted for it while 26 Republicans voted against it.

 

[Fishlore]

Nothing is more central to the conservative view than the idea that there are fixed laws governing human behavior and governments, laws based on "inalienable rights" and "self-evident truths.." The fact is that all things evolve, the fixed principle is evolution. Why do I bring this up?

Because the medium of human consciousness has changed swiftly and radically in ways that Ben Franklin with his kite and key (Ben was the guy who discovered that lightning in the sky was a form of electricity) could never have imagined.

As bees in a hive are connected by a cloud of pheromones, so Americans today are connected through their cell phones, iPads, tablets etc. to the Interwebs with its chat rooms, social media, on line stores and associations. The electromagnetic spectrum (owned by the American pea pull and managed by the federal government BTW -- the Internet is not private property) has become the sixth sense of the American consciousness.

It isn't the government that has radically changed our notion of privacy by peeking at our cellphone and Internet footprints, it is the technology itself. Government isn't doing anything different with its data mining than Google and the New York Times are doing as well.

It is true that the corporations that are mining our data can't indict us or pack us off to Guantanamo, at least I don't think they can, but they also can't protect us from some loon with a bomb in his Jockey Shorts either. The fact that public and private data miners are swinging their cyber picks at the rich vein of bits and bytes we put into the ether may not be comforting to those who long for the days when steaming open envelopes was as far as the technology got us, but they will have to get over it. It's a whole new beehive in here.

 

[NYcarbineer]

Mainstream conservatives are conveniently forgetting how much they hated the Ron Paul type faction on the right back in the early post 9/11 years,

and conveniently forgetting that it was this sort of thing, opposing the Patriot Act, that made them hate him.

 

[Seawytch]

Mainstream conservatives are conveniently forgetting how much they hated the Ron Paul type faction on the right back in the early post 9/11 years,

and conveniently forgetting that it was this sort of thing, opposing the Patriot Act, that made them hate him.

And what made far lefties like him.

 

[Black_Label]

What a joke of a thread trying to save face for the right wingers that shit all over the constitution, and exacted the huge government patriot act.

Thanks GOP!