[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 100 (Thursday, July 21, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H6315-H6316]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE DEFINITION OF A PATRIOT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, the definition of a patriot is someone 
who

[[Page H6316]]

proudly supports and defends his or her country and its way of life. 
Today we patriots rose to vote against this bill because we want to 
defend the American way of life. The way to do that is to restore some 
of the civil liberties taken away during the panic after 9/11.

                              {time}  2230

  Freedom in America does not mean granting the government unlimited 
and unchecked powers to snoop into private lives without any 
counterbalance. Yet 4 years ago, we were presented with a massive bill 
in the middle of the night. Fear governed and government suspended 
basic American freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. A sunset 
provision was the only thing that kept our American way of life from 
sunsetting.
  Today we need to reclaim liberty and freedom and rename this act the 
Act of Patriotism. We can defend liberty without destroying freedom. We 
can make America safer without making America afraid. We can shoulder 
the burden of security without falling under the yoke of oppression. We 
cannot and we must not be afraid any longer.
  We were afraid not long ago, and it set America on a terrible course 
where we willingly suspended the rule of law to be governed by the rule 
of fear: be afraid; be very afraid. And we were. We feared so much that 
in the PATRIOT Act we embraced national secrecy instead of national 
security. We granted broad sweeping powers to the government and 
removed the checks and balances that have made Americans free for 200 
years.
  At a time like this with the stakes so high, we should look back on 
history and learn. America has faced grave threats and perilous times 
before. We did so by defending American values, not by dismantling 
American principles.
  At a time like this we should recall and heed the words expressed by 
our Founders. The geniuses who envisioned a Nation of free people, free 
expression and freedom knew that the hard work for America was not in 
crafting liberty, but in preserving it. What they wrote 200 years ago 
sounds like it was penned and delivered in this Chamber on this very 
day. Just listen:
  ``But a Constitution of government once changed from freedom can 
never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.'' Those are the 
words of John Adams in a letter on July 17, 1775.
  Another quote: ``However weak my country may be, I hope we shall 
never sacrifice our liberties.'' Alexander Hamilton wrote that on 
December 13, 1790.
  And another quote: ``Every government degenerates when trusted to the 
rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are the 
only safe depositories.'' Thomas Jefferson was the author in 1781.
  You cannot get any advice any better than that written by people who 
risked torture and death to pursue liberty.
  We have our marching orders, and we could not be any clearer. We 
cannot let fear govern who we are and what we stand for. We cannot let 
fear become the 28th amendment to the United States Constitution. Yet, 
that is precisely the grave danger facing America today.
  The signs are everywhere. Without your knowledge, investigators can 
search your home or your office, copy records and photographs. Without 
your knowledge, the government can look at your medical records as if 
an x-ray will reveal your political ideology.
  Without your knowledge, the government can access your library 
records and listen to roving wiretaps. And the threshold for all of 
this is unseen and unknown. A nameless, faceless person somewhere in 
the government can decide you are suspicious. The color of your skin or 
the accent of your voice could tip the scales.
  They say no. But we do not know. How could we know? Everything is 
secret.
  This climate of fear has produced arrogance which has led to an 
inevitable abuse of power. So a Republican committee chairman thinks 
nothing of turning off the microphones as if freedom of speech is 
governed by an off and on switch, as if liberty and justice for all is 
controlled by one man banging his gavel.
  We have gone too far, and it is time to trade in fear and embrace 
fearlessness because that is what America is. We have gone too far, and 
it is time to restrain government because in this country the people 
rule and history teaches that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
  We have gone too far, and it is time to stop fear-mongering and start 
protecting liberty. We do not need to destroy America's founding 
principles in order to defeat America's latest enemy. Do not let fear 
rule America and distort it into a country we do not even recognize.
  Four years ago we put sunset provisions in the PATRIOT Act. It is 
time to put them back in and restore the checks and balances that keep 
America free.

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