Political Quotes

“true patriots need not hide behind the flag nor apply phony titles to cover the misguided purposes of their legislation. From its origin, this grossly misnamed PATRIOT Act has cloaked its weaknesses by implying that its opponents are ``un-patriots'' as in ``unpatriotic.'' This is all part of a troubling pattern: secret prisons, sneak and peek searches, gag orders, redefining torture to exclude cruel and degrading punishment, extraordinary rendition, combing through library records, and even attempting to misuse our military to spy on religious groups. These acts debase our American values. This bill should be rejected because it fails to strike the proper balance between the security we demand and the liberties that we cherish. Yes, Vice President Cheney has suddenly emerged from his secure, undisclosed location and taken pause from his campaign to preserve torture in order to enthusiastically embrace today's bill. But intrusive, invasive powers in the hands of a few with little oversight and no accountability is a formula for wrongdoing. We should not surrender our liberties to any Administration. Retreating to such abusive tactics is weakness, not strength. We should not add even more powers to an Administration that has so often been willing to abuse its existing power, nor should we add more authority to an Administration that has acted in authoritarian ways.…”