Washington D.C.--We've gotten a reprieve from the House and Senate granting the telecommunications companies and the Bush administration a free-pass on illegal surveillance of the rest of us. Use this time well, and diplomatically confront your senators as they come home to meet with you, their constituency, over the 4th of July.
Remind them what the Independence Day and the Bill of Rights mean, and that at least you haven't forgotten. Also, be sure to remind them that you're an active voter who holds-sway over the voting behavior of others. The Electronic Frontier Foundation had this to say after our short reprieve this week:
Chris Dodd and Russ Feingold succeeded in giving us a gift: no FISA votes in the Senate until July 8th -- after the Fourth of July recess. That means that when all the Senators go home for the holidays, to ride in those parades, you have a chance to be seen and heard. Not by the intern who downloads and counts the emails, not by the staffer who answers the phones and logs the calls, but by the Honorable Senator.
In person, face to face.
In public, where they can't turn away.
In front of the cameras, everywhere they look.
...If you have a place reserved for a float in your town's parade, maybe you need an idea for your decorations. If you have a place reserved for your lawn chair or the curb, maybe you need an idea for the sign you'll hold up when the Senator or Representative comes by.
"Hey Senator, can I have some immunity, too? -- Vote NO on FISA!"
"I like the WHOLE Bill of Rights -- Vote NO on FISA!"
Time for some old-fashioned American bird-dogging folks, so get out there and give them a civil and polite slice-of-hell. Remind them that they can be fired, removed, and discarded, legally.
No comments:
Post a Comment