Political Action in Action.

So, As some may have noticed I am fairly active when it comes to contacting my Reps. For those that Don't know, I keep stacks of my business letterhead Pre-adressed to all my reps in the House and Senate. I also keep their office numbers on my cell phone.

When ever there is an issue I care about Ill shoot off a quick email, letter and phone call. Total elapsed time of maybe 30 minutes for me to do. Normally I get canned responses, which is cool as sometimes I don't get any, Today was a first.

I got a call on a number I did not recognize so I let it go to voice mail, what the message was from someone from my Sentors office who wanted to assure me the recent letter I wrote about the NSA was as equally concerning to him as it was to me. The staffer asked in the voice mail for me to check my email, and mail as well as they would be sending a response and hoped for my continued support.

Check my email, and sure enough below is what I got.

Dear Ben,
Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns about the National Security Administration's surveillance programs. I received your email, and appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.
Like you, I have significant concerns about the intelligence community collecting information about Americans' telephone calls, emails, and other records. That is why I was deeply disappointed when the Senate voted to extend without new safeguards three expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act that allow the government to access medical records, phone calls, emails, and library records. Similarly, I joined 22 of my colleagues in voting against the reauthorization of the FISA Amendments Act that authorized the wiretapping of communications of foreigners who could be communicating with an American citizen, but did not provide sufficient safeguards for Americans' privacy.
While we must undoubtedly provide law enforcement with the tools necessary to keep Americans safe, we must also protect Americans' most fundamental constitutional rights. We can both protect our privacy and also maintain a high standard of national security.
As you may know, I recently introduced the Ending Secret Law Act with Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) that would require the Obama Administration to declassify information about top-secret court rulings that have interpreted what type of spying is allowable under the law. In particular, the highly secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has issued opinions interpreting the breath of surveillance allowable under controversial provisions of both the PATRIOT Act and the FISA Amendments Act. This past December, when Congress was considering whether to extend the FISA Amendments Act program for another five years, I offered this idea as an amendment to that legislation before the full Senate. While the amendment was unfortunately defeated, please know I will continue pushing my colleagues to support additional oversight of the intelligence community including the de-classification of these important court rulings.
Thank you, again, for contacting me. I hope you will continue to keep me informed about the issues that matter most to you.

All my best, Jeffrey A. Merkley United States Senator

IF we all did this, imagine what could happen.

reply to post by benrl


They get to do the same thing with the new care act data hub which it just hit me they knew they were going to get busted on the NSA which is why they created that other monstrosity, with the addtion of the consumer protection bureaus 'every financial transaction' in the country.


If anyone thinks Government is going to give up that power, I am sorry they aren't.

reply to post by benrl


What's bad is when the people such as yourself, contact their legislatures about concerns you may have and the legislatures themselves can't do any thing.

I wish there was a Senate/Congress term limit.
Until we get the old timers out, the career politicians, I don't see much changing.
I do see hope in the new young freshmen that are elected.

My hat is off to you for your efforts.
And thanks to your representative to have the time and consideration to send back a reply.

Originally posted by neo96
reply to post by benrl

 

They get to do the same thing with the new care act data hub which it just hit me they knew they were going to get busted on the NSA which is why they created that other monstrosity, with the addtion of the consumer protection bureaus 'every financial transaction' in the country.


If anyone thinks Government is going to give up that power, I am sorry they aren't.

which as he says in the letter he tried to add provisions for that type of data, It is the nature of power to always crave more of it.

Thats why we have a system of checks and balances, if enough of us Voters, attacked where we could (voting out incumbents) by using the tools our founders gave us we might be able to do something.

Originally posted by snarky412
reply to post by benrl

 

What's bad is when the people such as yourself, contact their legislatures about concerns you may have and the legislatures themselves can't do any thing.

thats basicly what I got from that letter, hes been trying but the willpower is not there in the senate.

The willpower to do such action comes from things like letter writing campaigns and such, letting these rats know you know who owns them, and will vote accordingly

THEY are counting on our apathy, its what allows this to happen, WHO keeps telling us voting does nothing? thats the question you need to ask yourself, and decide if you will be passive, or will you take 30 minutes of your day and do something.

Originally posted by benrl

Originally posted by neo96
reply to post by benrl

 

They get to do the same thing with the new care act data hub which it just hit me they knew they were going to get busted on the NSA which is why they created that other monstrosity, with the addtion of the consumer protection bureaus 'every financial transaction' in the country.


If anyone thinks Government is going to give up that power, I am sorry they aren't.

which as he says in the letter he tried to add provisions for that type of data, It is the nature of power to always crave more of it.

Thats why we have a system of checks and balances, if enough of us Voters, attacked where we could (voting out incumbents) by using the tools our founders gave us we might be able to do something.

Can you imagine if there were protests nation wide against such gov't. acts, like there is today about a shooting in one lonely state.

Ah, the power the American people have if we could all get on the same page and stand up for our rights as a whole, not for just a few?
Not to diminish the importance of what is going on due to the trial verdict, but these Government issues affect us ALL!!!

Isn't the gov't. trampling on ALL of our Civil Rights by these acts??
And yet, no protests......

Originally posted by snarky412

Originally posted by benrl

Originally posted by neo96
reply to post by benrl

 

They get to do the same thing with the new care act data hub which it just hit me they knew they were going to get busted on the NSA which is why they created that other monstrosity, with the addtion of the consumer protection bureaus 'every financial transaction' in the country.


If anyone thinks Government is going to give up that power, I am sorry they aren't.

which as he says in the letter he tried to add provisions for that type of data, It is the nature of power to always crave more of it.

Thats why we have a system of checks and balances, if enough of us Voters, attacked where we could (voting out incumbents) by using the tools our founders gave us we might be able to do something.

Can you imagine if there were protests nation wide against such gov't. acts like there is today about a shooting in one lonely state.

Ah, the power the American people have if we could all get on the same page and stand up for our rights as a whole, not for just a few?
Not to diminish the importance of what is going on due to the trial verdict, but these Government issues effect us ALL!!!

Doesn't it just put a whole new spin on the Zimmerman case, its typical LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME, so you don't look at the real problems.

reply to post by benrl

Doesn't it just put a whole new spin on the Zimmerman case, its typical LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME, so you don't look at the real problems.

Exactly..........:shk:

And the MSM is feeding the frenzy when they should be focused on the issues at hand that affect ALL Americans, regardless of skin color.

The Government is a big bully that needs to be stopped.
But how?
If any one goes against them, they may get a visit from the IRS.