Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to renew the FISA Amendments Act for 5 years without any reform. The FISA Amendments Act is a law that created an enormous electronic spying network that grabs data from Americans’ phone calls, emails, and activities on the Internet, placing them in a gigantic database where they can be searched by government bureaucrats – and it’s all done without any search warrant. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill later this autumn.

You may be feeling hopeless, wondering what you can do in the face of such a blatant attack against Americans’ constitutional rights by the U.S. Congress. You can take action, however – specific action. You can give your support to campaigns seeking to unseat members of the U.S. House who voted for the extension of FISA Amendments Act abuses.

In Arizona, U.S. Representative Jeff Flake is one of those members of Congress who voted to expose Americans to more spying by their own government. Jeff Flake doesn’t think people will mind government bureaucrats snooping through their private files without a search warrant, so Flake isn’t just running for re-election to the U.S. House. Instead, he’s campaigning to become a U.S. Senator.

Attorney Marc Victor notes, “Senate Candidate Jeff Flake has assisted in directing our country on an Orwellian path of domestic surveillance with obvious disregard for the Bill of Rights and the civil liberties of Americans. Arizonans have long had an independent streak, cherished liberty and resisted the growth of big government. With this latest vote for warrantless surveillance, Senate Candidate Jeff Flake has demonstrated an inability or unwillingness to protect freedom and help return our nation to the principles that made us a great nation.”

So what can you do about the effort to renew the FISA Amendments Act without any reform? If you live in Arizona, you can vote for Jeff Flake’s opponent, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona.