Open Letter to Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, and Congressional Democrats

Written by: Randal Helm on Jun 19, 2008 10:21 PM EDT

Linked to groups: The Young Turks ~ ENOUGH!, Courage Campaign, Democracy for America - Orange County, DFA Night School, DFA Film Club

No Retroactive Immunity, No Erosion of Liberties, No Warrantless Wiretaps

I am writing to you to remind you of your responsibility to protect the constitution of the United States. Americans sent a clear message in 2006 by empowering democrats with a majority in congress, because they wanted a change from the policies and the continual erosion of civil liberties by one George W. Bush and his administration.

Sadly, little if anything has been done on this front, and this congress has more often acted as enablers of a man who has outright contempt for the rule of law and detests transparency in leadership.

I will not forget that you and your party did not deem it worthy to pursue the 35 articles of impeachment that were brought to the floor against a president who has spied illegally on our citizens, detains hundreds abroad (and at home) without charge indefinitely, and most recently has been proven (as if there was ever any doubt) to have institutionalized torture.

You and your democratic "leadership" have however, found time once again to bring to the floor a bill that strips away even more of the people's civil liberties (the people by whose consent you govern) and grants immunity to those who aided and abetted illegal and warrant-less spying on the American people.

George W. Bush and his administration have earned no benefit of the doubt or presumption of restraint. This is a man who has bent the entire vehicle of government towards becoming another political arm of the Republican Party and sold America and it's soldiers to corporate interests.

I have not forgotten the past votes when members of your Democratic Party have voted to authorize war in Iraq, to pass draconian surveillance bills, to pass the Patriot Act and the Protect America Act. I have read the roll-calls, I am keeping tally. I have watched your cowardice as you triangulated the best political position and did not do everything within your power to bring our troops home. Your complicity sullies their sacrifice. How many thousands of dead soldiers have we accumulated since the Democrats won that majority?

If you and the House and Senate Democrats capitulate on this bill, I will make it my life's mission to replace you and those complicit, with congressional representatives who respect the rule of law and remember that their loyalty is not to the President, nor to their party, nor to the shifting political winds. It is to the constitution and the laws and the inalienable rights for which it stands.

I will post the roll-call on as many political blogs, websites, forums, and article comments as I can until we drive you and your fellow capitulators out of office. I will raise money for your opposition.

To vote for this bill and further erode the constitution and undermine civil liberties is not just a tragedy, it is tantamount to treason. It is becoming harder and harder to tell the democratic members apart from the republicans.

Perhaps it is time for you to revisit your history books and remember the phrase from America's revolution:

Don't Tread On Me.

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Location: Costa Mesa, CA 92626