I’m not going to be gentle in the way I say this. Americans are divided into two group this week:
1st: There are the Americans who care enough about their country to call the United States Senate and ask their two senators to oppose the FISA Amendments Act’s comprehensive attack on the Constitution.
2nd: There are the Americans who are either too lazy or too ignorant to come to the defense of the Constitution.
We have spent the last two weeks explaining the profound dangers posed by the FISA Amendments Act. We’ve cited legal experts, members of Congress, and grassroots activists who have studied the proposed law. We’ve described the many different aspects of the Constitution that the legislation is defined to violate.
If you want to, you can read through our collection of articles about the FISA Amendments Act if you like, but by now you’ve had plenty of time to inform yourself about the law. If you haven’t done so, then let’s be honest about the reason why: You don’t really care much about freedom. Other things are more important to you, and it’s fine with you if the centuries-old system of legal principles that have made the survival of liberty in the United States possible is dismantled.
There isn’t much time left for you to act. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the FISA Amendments Act tomorrow.
If you want to be a citizen of a democracy instead of a mere resident, get off your behind and call the United States Senate at (202) 224-3121. Tell them you want to talk to your United States senators. They’ll connect you.
Generations of Americans have sacrificed their lives and their livelihoods for the sake of freedom. Is it too much to ask for you to lift up a telephone and dial a number?
I had previously only sent messages through my Senators’ web pages. Your post was the kick in the pants I needed to pick up the phone. I called Voinovich and asked him to take a look at the 4th amendment and then vote no. (and look at the 10th for more freedom fun!)
Fortunately, my other Senator is the courageous, constitution-loving Sherrod Brown. I thanked him for his opposition thus far, and asked that he vote no tomorrow.
It’s super easy folks. You just talk to a staffer and they mark your comment. Do they pass it along? Who knows, but we must at least try.
P.S. Obama won’t gain any supporters by voting yes on FISA tomorrow, but he will lose some. Sad.
Good work, nll! I’d previously called Brown and Voinovich on cloture for the bill, but since this is a different vote on final passage, I suppose that gives me license to call again. Heck, my citizenship gives me license, doesn’t it? So I called again.
I noticed two weeks ago that while Senator Brown’s office collected specific information (zip code and city), indicating that they are certainly keeping track, Senator Voinovich’s office just said very quickly, “OK, we’ll pass that on” and hung up. That happened again today. Senator Brown’s office said they’d been getting a lot of calls, which is great.