Are Lawmakers Listening? Are You Talking?

Something's happening right now in Congress that you might want to watch closely.

In recent years, the feds, under George Bush's direction, have returned to the bad old days of unchecked spying on ordinary Americans, as part of a broad pattern of executive abuses that use "national security" as an excuse for encroaching on our privacy and free speech rights without adequate - or any - judicial oversight. For five years, on presidential orders, the National Security Agency has been reading email and tapping phones without a warrant - actions explicitly forbidden by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA).

A recent poll shows that the vast majority of American voters want Congress to reinstate our protections and to stop allowing George Bush, the FBI, the NSA and the Pentagon to spy on Americans without warrants. Don't let this escape your attention! Right now, lots of things are brewing in Congress.

Lawmakers are poised to create brand new laws. Are they listening to you? And, what in the heck are they trying to do?

Spying on innocent Americans is still in full operation and only new legislation in Congress will stop it.

Congress has been debating FISA legislation since passing a temporary measure in August that was aimed at closing a loophole that required the National Security Agency to get a FISA court warrant before listening to purely foreign communications. Chris Dodd stopped a brand new bill from passing in December 2007.

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), who exited the presidential race this month, led opposition to the bill in December and succeeded in temporarily blocking telecom immunity.

The most important lesson to learn here is that it is always possible for citizens to influence and disrupt even the most fortified Beltway establishment schemes. When that fails to happen, it's never because it can't be done, because it's impossible, because the deck is too stacked against it, etc. Rather, when there is failure in this regard, it's because the right strategy wasn't discovered, or because not enough pressure was generated, or because there were insufficient tools of persuasion deployed. (Glenn Greenwald, salon.com)

But, the fight to protect our privacy isn't won yet.

The Senate is now considering extending the PAA, again, which expires Feb. 1, for another month while Democratic leaders seek compromise on the legislation.

Meanwhile, the FBI and Pentagon are still watching and keeping files on peaceful activists, and infiltrating groups like Greenpeace with informants.

In January 2007, the president announced that he's allowed to open Americans' mail, and we also learned about undisclosed Pentagon and CIA demands for citizens' financial records.

Our 4th Amendment rights are threatened! There has never been a more urgent need to preserve fundamental privacy protections and our system of checks and balances than the need we face today, as illegal government spying, provisions of the Patriot Act and government-sponsored torture programs transcend the bounds of law and our most treasured values in the name of national security.

Despite this 30-year precedent, Congress and the president colluded in a last-minute Patriot-Act-style vote just before the 2007 summer recess. The resulting legislation lifts longstanding protections between government spying and Americans’ international communications. Congress’ "Police America Act” now gives the NSA a blank check to wiretap Americans without judicial oversight.

That bill they signed, however, would only last for six months and it is now up for renewal. What will our Congress do? Will they reinstate FISA to its "pre-Bush" state, or will they once again cave to Bush's campaign year scare tactics?

We need our Congress to resist the president's scare tactics.

We need Congress not to cave in again to White House bullying and base political fears.

We need our own Congress and our new Democratic leadership to stop agreeing to Bush's reckless changes and loosening of our FISA protections.

Perhaps the latest poss from The Mellman Group will help our lawmakers to see that voters do vigorously oppose warrantless wiretaps, blanket warrants and immunity for telecom companies that spy on us without warrants.

While Americans surely want to protect the country from terrorism, they also insist on protecting our constitutional rights. Opposition to key elements of the Bush Administration’s FISA agenda - warrantless wiretaps, blanket warrants, and immunity for telecommunication companies that may have broken the law - remains quite strong.

In fact, large majorities across almost every demographic subgroup of voters oppose all three of these proposals. Opposition to the Administration’s FISA agenda is as strong or stronger today than it was three months ago. As a result, Members of Congress who stand in defense of constitutional rights have little to fear from their constituents.

Sixty-three percent (63%) of voters favor requiring the government to obtain a warrant from a court before wiretapping the conversations U.S. citizens have with people in other countries - a figure quite consistent with the 61% opposition we found in October.

An outright majority of voters (55%) “strongly” supports requiring warrants.

Only one-third (33%) support warrantless wiretaps of Americans’ international conversations, with fewer than 1-in-4 (24%) strongly supporting warrantless wiretaps.

Support for this constitutional right is both deep and wide, cutting across every demographic segment.

Whether they are old or young (age 60+ 61% warrants required, age 50-59 61%, age 40-49 66%, age 18-39 66%), more or less educated (college grads 67%, some college 65%, high school or less 57%), black or white (black 83% warrants required, whites 60%), upper class or lower (upper/upper-middle 63% warrants required, middle 66%, working/lower 57%) overwhelming majorities favor requiring warrants for government wiretaps of Americans’ international conversations.

Eight-in-ten percent (80%) of Democrats, 56% of independents, and even half (50%) of the President’s own Republicans oppose tapping Americans’ international conversations without a warrant.

Strikingly, majorities across partisan and ideological lines oppose blanket warrrants. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of Democrats, 55% of independents and 51% of Republicans join 62% of liberals, 59% of moderates and 55% of conservatives in opposing blanket warrants (also known as “basket warrants”), demanding instead that warrants be individual.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of voters reject immunity for phone companies that may have violated the law by selling customers’ private information to the government, preferring to let courts decide the outcome of any cases. Again intensity favors opponents of immunity, with 45% “strongly” opposed. Just one-third (33%) support immunity for the phone companies, with only about 1-in-5 (22%) strongly supporting immunity.

Opposition to immunity is widespread, cutting across ideology and geography. Majorities of liberals, moderates, and conservatives agree that courts should decide the outcomes of these legal actions.

These issues are of critical import to Americans, with 78% saying it is important for Congress to take action now to require the government to obtain a warrant before wiretapping the international phone calls and emails of American citizens, up slightly from 75% in October.

Furthermore, a majority of voters (52%) deem such congressional action “very important,” compared to 48% three months ago. Only a fifth (20%) say it is either “not too” or “not at all” important for Congress to take such action (22% in October).

I poked around here at EverydayCitizen.com and found some good background posts about FISA, if you want to examine this issue more closely:

Remember, polls don't produce laws, lawmakers do.

And your lawmakers are currently going to do just that. The question is this - will they make a law that protects us, or will they make a law that violates our privacies even against our strong opposition?

The ball is in the lawmakers court - and, in your court, as citizens.

If you care about your privacy and the constitution, now is the time for you to speak up.

If you agree with the majority of Americans, tell your senators, congressmen and congresswoman that you want your 4th amendment and FISA protections reinstated permanently.

No American is beneath the law's protection. And no one - not even a U.S. president - is above the law's limits. Our fundamental system of checks and balances must be maintained if American democracy is to be preserved.

Tell your lawmakers that if they don't protect your privacy by requiring warrants, then, you won't protect their jobs at election time.