Post by William Reynolds on Jan 1, 2006 19:31:24 GMT -5
CHICAGO, Illinois - Representative William Reynolds was the keynote speaker at a large, well attended fundraiser sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union. Reynolds offered a heartfelt plea to the ACLU and its large member base to throw their weight behind the Democratic Party in the coming elections. Reynolds then went on to make a speech outlying his views on the current Republican administration.
Excerpts follow:
“The United States of America was founded on the ideal of liberty. This country was established as a place for freethinking individuals to escape the tyranny of the rest of the world and live as independent citizens. The Democratic Party has stayed true to these beliefs. Today, as a Democrat, I stand here to tell you that our government has no business meddling in our lives, telling us how to think, or crushing individual liberties in the vague interest of ‘national security’. The greatest security our nation can have is maintaining our precious freedoms.
American citizens should not be afraid of their government. To the contrary, the American government should be afraid of its people. The government should always know that if it ever betrays the will and spirit of America that it could be replaced. And I’ll tell you something, my friends… the Republican Party has stepped over the line. They’re in our lives and in our heads and they have no right to be rewriting laws so that they can spy on ordinary Americans.
The Patriot Act received a lot of press coverage when it was first enacted. I think its time we took this issue up again. A lot of Americans were too scared to really challenge the Patriot Act when it was first introduced, but now we’ve had a few years to see it in action. Suppressing liberties to ‘protect’ Americans doesn’t work and has never worked. We are not one bit safer today than we were before this legislation was introduced. Could the Patriot Act stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons? No. Has the Patriot Act stopped the fact that thousands of people still illegally cross American borders with ease? No.
People see the smiling face of President Warder and they get fooled. They think that suddenly the Republican Party is friendly and innocent. The GOP has a brand new, joke-cracking figurehead. The Republican Party wants us to forget that the Patriot Act is still functioning well. They try to gloss over the fact that the U.S. Government is still peeping over the shoulders of American citizens and delivering National Security Letters. They forget that even if we assume that President Warder is an honest man, every single politician and bureaucrat in his party has to be honest for there not to be abuses of the system.
The Republicans would have us think that the government has no business helping out the poor, or stopping racism. But then they turn around and tell us that the government should be running our lives. I say, get the government out of our lives and back where it belongs: helping people. It doesn’t take Gestapo tactics to keep America safe. It takes freethinking, democracy-loving Americans determined not to let our values be destroyed by reckless politicians. Stand with the Democratic Party and stand for freedom.”
Excerpts follow:
“The United States of America was founded on the ideal of liberty. This country was established as a place for freethinking individuals to escape the tyranny of the rest of the world and live as independent citizens. The Democratic Party has stayed true to these beliefs. Today, as a Democrat, I stand here to tell you that our government has no business meddling in our lives, telling us how to think, or crushing individual liberties in the vague interest of ‘national security’. The greatest security our nation can have is maintaining our precious freedoms.
American citizens should not be afraid of their government. To the contrary, the American government should be afraid of its people. The government should always know that if it ever betrays the will and spirit of America that it could be replaced. And I’ll tell you something, my friends… the Republican Party has stepped over the line. They’re in our lives and in our heads and they have no right to be rewriting laws so that they can spy on ordinary Americans.
The Patriot Act received a lot of press coverage when it was first enacted. I think its time we took this issue up again. A lot of Americans were too scared to really challenge the Patriot Act when it was first introduced, but now we’ve had a few years to see it in action. Suppressing liberties to ‘protect’ Americans doesn’t work and has never worked. We are not one bit safer today than we were before this legislation was introduced. Could the Patriot Act stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons? No. Has the Patriot Act stopped the fact that thousands of people still illegally cross American borders with ease? No.
People see the smiling face of President Warder and they get fooled. They think that suddenly the Republican Party is friendly and innocent. The GOP has a brand new, joke-cracking figurehead. The Republican Party wants us to forget that the Patriot Act is still functioning well. They try to gloss over the fact that the U.S. Government is still peeping over the shoulders of American citizens and delivering National Security Letters. They forget that even if we assume that President Warder is an honest man, every single politician and bureaucrat in his party has to be honest for there not to be abuses of the system.
The Republicans would have us think that the government has no business helping out the poor, or stopping racism. But then they turn around and tell us that the government should be running our lives. I say, get the government out of our lives and back where it belongs: helping people. It doesn’t take Gestapo tactics to keep America safe. It takes freethinking, democracy-loving Americans determined not to let our values be destroyed by reckless politicians. Stand with the Democratic Party and stand for freedom.”