Dear "Representative," 

 

I strongly oppose Sections 1021 and 1022 in the National Defense Authorization Act (HR 1540).

 

NO HUMAN BEING (let alone an American Citizen) should be stripped of his or her rights based on an ACCUSATION alone. Due process and evidence are required by our American system of justice. 

If you vote for this un-American legislation, you will do more substantive damage to this country than any terrorist bomb ever could. It is our rights, our ideals and our legal system (not our buildings, our geographic location, or even our lives) that made the United States a great country. 

The House and Senate have embarked on a path that will destroy everything this country was intended to be. Continue and you will forfeit all legitimacy in the eyes of the increasingly-informed and fed-up electorate. 

YOU DO NOT 'protect America' by turning it toward a Soviet-style 'security' state. If this is the best you can do, then please recuse yourself now. Find the integrity to admit that you are not capable or qualified to honor your oath of office. 

 

Joseph Plummer

12/13/2011

 

• UPDATE: I received a reply from one of my Senators. You can find the exchange on this page: Challenging my Senator on NDAA  

 

 

The letter above was inspired by the DownsizeDC.org message below. Please use their free and easy system to send YOUR 'Representative' a piece of your mind regarding this un-American legislation.

 

 

 

Quote of the Day: "This is an asymmetric war. In asymmetric wars, you want to pit your greatest strength against the enemy's greatest weakness. Our great strengths are our ideals and our system of justice." - Ret. Adm. John Hutson, former Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Navy 

 

Two weeks ago we warned you about indefinite detention provisions of the Senate's version National Defense Authorization Act.

We explain the bill...

 

* here 
* and here 

 

We have BAD NEWS to report. In the final version of the bill coming from the House-Senate Conference Committee, essentially NOTHING HAS CHANGED except section numbers (now 1021 / 1022) and a couple of words.

 

The House is voting on the bill TOMORROW, December 14.

 

Please CALL your Representative telling them to oppose the National Defense Authorization Act, especially sections 1021 and 1022. His or her number is available when you are logged in to our "I Am Not Afraid" campaign. 

 

Please write a letter as well. We have updated the hard-wired message to say:

 

I strongly oppose Sections 1021 and 1022 in the National Defense Authorization Act (HR 1540).

 

You may borrow from or copy the following personal comments...

 

These provisions REQUIRE military detention for aliens suspected of terrorism, and ALLOWS the President to subject American citizens to the same treatment. This includes the power to detain people INDEFINITELY, without charges.

 

This undermines the Posse Comitatus Act, which outlawed the deployment of the military for domestic policing. This actually makes us LESS secure because it diverts the military's mission from fighting wars to investigating and prosecuting suspected terrorists.

 

Even worse, this is a declaration of war on the American way of life.

 

* It violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment
* And abandons protections against arbitrary executive power that are as old as the Magna Carta

 

How can ANY of my rights and freedoms be secure if the President can, by whim, call me a "terrorist" and order troops to kidnap me?

 

If it is true that terrorists hate us for our freedom, then Sections 1021 and 1022 will make it official: The terrorists win.

Be a patriot. Be an American. Stand up for the Constitution. Strip Sections 1021 and 1022 from HR 1540 or oppose the bill altogether.

 

END LETTER

You can send your letter using DownsizeDC.org's Educate the Powerful System. 

 

Spread this message via email, blog, or social network -- whatever facilities you have. Tell your friends to join you in acting NOW. Rep. Justin Amash is organizing opposition, and he's making progress. But time is short. Your help is needed. 

 

Thank you!

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.