OntheWilderSide

Green Party urge quick repeal of bill expanding Bush administration’s surveillance powers

Green Party blames Democratic Party leaders for the bill’s passage, and warn that mounting ‘police state’ measures are nullifying the Constitution and basic civil liberties

Green Party leaders called on Congress to repeal recently passed legislation expanding the White House’s surveillance powers, and urged all Americans concerned about the Bush Administration’s abuses of power to express their outrage to their Senators and Representatives.

“Congress should be impeaching President Bush and Vice President Cheney for shredding the US Constitution and other high crimes and misdemeanors. Instead, Republicans and Democrats have rewarded Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney for warrantless wiretapping by giving them even greater extra-constitutional power,” said Sarah ‘Echo’ Steiner, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.

The ‘Protect America Act of 2007’ allows the federal government, without a court-ordered warrant or minimal oversights enacted under FISA, to listen in on communications between people inside and outside the US. Greens are demanding immediate repeal of the bill, in advance of its six-month expiration.

“The responsibility for this assault on the Fourth Amendment doesn’t only lie with the Democrats and Republicans who voted for it. It also lies with Democrats like Sen. Harry Reid who claim to have opposed it, but declined to block the bill with a filibuster,” said Carl Romanelli, 2006 Green candidates for the US Senate in Pennsylvania.

Greens have accused Democratic leaders of posing as an opposition party while giving President Bush a free pass on much of his agenda, especially continued funding for the Iraq war and confirmation of extreme right-wing ideologues and operatives to the Supreme Court, Justice Department, and other key positions.

Green Party leaders expressed alarm that measures like the surveillance bill and USA Patriot Act, in combination with the Bush Administration’s loose interpretation of prohibitions against torture, use of ‘signing statements,’ executive order criminalizing antiwar protest www.gp.org/press/pr_2007_07_26.shtml, and doctrines of unitary executive power, executive privilege, and official secrecy may be setting the stage for a greater collapse of US democracy and the rule of law.

“If another attack similar to 9/11 occurs in the US, the White House is already armed with a dozen different ways to override the US Constitution, crush dissent, and turn the US into a police state,” said Kristen Olson, co-chair of the Green Party. “We’ve already witnessed the breakdown, thanks to Republican officials, of fair and accurate elections in Florida in 2000 and in Ohio and other states in 2004. It’s time for Americans to stand up and defend our freedoms, before both Republicans and Democrats abolish them in the name of security and patriotism.”

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