government_snooping

Stop the snooping

June 1, 2015

Today Libertarian National Committee Chair Nicholas Sarwark released the following statement:

I woke up this morning to the news that the government no longer has the legal authority to spy on the phone records of every American. Those most egregious provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act expired last night, thanks in large part to the efforts of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.  This is a powerful first step in the fight to restore liberty for all Americans.

The tragedy is that this blot on everything America stands for was ever passed into law in the first place over a decade ago.  The tragedy is that many other provisions of that horrible law remain in place.  The tragedy is that in two days time the Senate is aiming to pass some sort of “kinder and gentler” version of the PATRIOT Act that will keep spying on Americans, but promise toothless “oversight” of that spying.

Make no mistake.  The Libertarian Party wants nothing less than to repeal the USA PATRIOT Act in its entirety, a sentiment widely shared by most Americans who have taken a hard look at the law.  We are the only national political party to endorse the Surveillance State Repeal Act sponsored by Representatives Pocan and Massie in the House, which would repeal major provisions of the Patriot Act.  We stood up for the rights of Americans to oppose the original passage in 2001 and have stood up against every renewal of that terrible law.

It’s taken almost 14 years of political activism by political outsiders, the revelations of Edward Snowden, and the courage of a very few politicians to get us to this first step, forcing the sunset of the Section 215 provisions.  Thank you Senator Paul for your patriotic actions to oppose that misnamed law, forcing portions of it to expire.  Now it’s time to finish the job of a full repeal of the USA PATRIOT Act.

The Libertarian Party urges you to call Amy Klobuchar (202-224-3244) and Al Franken (202-224-564) right away and let them know you do not want the Patriot Act revived and to let it die.

A bill could be up for vote as soon as Tuesday, June 2nd in the senate. Make the call. It only takes a few minutes.

(Reposted with modifications from LP.org)

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