Lynn C. Woolsey: “I believe in the freedom to read, and Americans' right to read and purchase books without fear of government monitoring…”

“I believe in the freedom to read, and Americans' right to read and purchase books without fear of government monitoring has been wiped out, it has been erased, it has been undone by the passage of the PATRIOT Act. Congress must repeal this unconstitutional provision, and we must do it today with this amendment. The PATRIOT Act forces library users to self-censor their reading choices out of fear. Mr. Chairman, censorship is not what America is about. The existing law would make one believe that by reading a book, the 9/11 terrorists came into existence. The existing law would lead one to believe that books are the enemy. Let us not forget the book burnings in Germany. Books are only the enemy if we do not want our population to be educated.”