Lynn C. Woolsey: “No, sir. Mr. Speaker, for close to a decade now we've been told that our civil liberties must be shredded in the name of…”

“No, sir. Mr. Speaker, for close to a decade now we've been told that our civil liberties must be shredded in the name of a so-called war on terrorism. We've been told that the national security imperatives of the moment are so great and so different than any we face in our history that we must submit to roving wiretaps and that we must empower the government to retain ``any tangible thing'' related to a terrorism investigation. ``Any tangible thing''--that gives the government pretty broad discretion to ferret out just about whatever they want. It is an invitation to overreach and abuse. I believe it has stifled freedom more than it has advanced it. There is a real incoherence to an approach that says we have to do violence to our Nation's values in order to protect them. Benjamin Franklin's words are just as powerful today as they were more than 200 years ago when he said, ``Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.'' I believe we must let these provisions expire. And let's not stop there. Let's move toward a fuller debate about civil liberties and national security, a debate that revises and ultimately repeals the Patriot Act.”