Obviously, one of the real clues districts of 700,000 people are unmanageable for an elected member of Congress to serve is the very fact that when you contact your member of Congress to express your concerns, unless you are a big contributor, chances are you are going to get a forum letter once you express your concerns. Blogger Jonathon LaBrie gave evidence of this last week as he noted he presented Congressman Long, the same Congressman who claims his pocket Constitution is rode hard and put up wet, a letter with a Constitutional argument about why Obama's attack on Libya is illegal. Long sent an obvious forum letter back in which he waffled on both sides of the debate--supporting Obama's military actions while trying to make the case he is familiar with the warnings of the founding fathers when it comes to war.
A few days ago, I wrote Congressman Long on my dissatisfaction of the Boehner's budget deal. In it, I expressed how I am concerned Republicans are living up to their promises to ensure a return to Constitutional republicanism as our founding father's prescribed giving examples of what is wrong with this budget battle. In the letter I mentioned the keyword Patriot Act as another example of Republicans failing the Constitution. Obviously, that was the keyword Congressman Long's document management system picked up as it scanned the e-mail, because I received the following e-mail expressing Congressman Long's position on the Patriot Act:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the USA PATRIOT Act; I appreciate hearing from you on such an important issue to constituents of the Seventh District of Missouri.
As you may know, the U.S. House of Representatives recently extended three expiring provisions of the Patriot Actuntil December 8, 2011; these three provisions will have to be extended again before that date and will be fully reviewed with the rest of the Patriot Act. These provisions of the law are fairly modest despite the Act's controversial nature as they merely allow our counterterrorism community use of the same tools local law enforcement officials have been using for decades while containing elaborate safeguards to prevent abuses by Federal agents.
The first provision, the Business Records Provision, allows law enforcement to obtain the same business records in terrorism cases grand juries routinely subpoena for criminal cases; the difference is Federal prosecutors are allowed to subpoena documents from businesses on their own. The Patriot Act requires the Federal Bureau of Investigationsto obtain a judge's permission before officials can access business records in terrorism cases. The provision also imposes special limits when investigators seek records from sensitive enterprises and expressly bars the government from investigating Americans solely upon the basis of activities protected by the First Amendment.
The second provision, or the Roving Wiretap Provision, also does not extend beyond current criminal law. Sophisticated criminals in the United States try to avoid surveillance by repeatedly switching cellular telephones, and potential terrorists utilize the same tactics. In 1986, Congress passed a law addressing this problem by allowing investigators to track criminals with roving wiretaps, where courts approve wiretaps for particular people instead of particular devices; the Patriot Act allows the same thing in national-security investigations. This provision also contains strict safeguards to protect civil liberties, as in criminal cases, and a court order is necessary.
The third provision, or the "Lone Wolf" Provision, allows investigators to apply for a court order to monitor a suspected terrorist, even if they have not yet found enough evidence to prove that he is a member of a foreign terrorist organization. Had this provision been in place prior to September 11, 2001, officials may have been able to discover the terrorist plot. Prior to September 11, officials suspected that Zacarias Moussaoui, who was then in custody on immigration charges, was an Islamist terrorist. However, they had not yet connected him to al-Qaeda, and consequently were unable to search his apartment or computer. The 9/11 Commission later speculated that if officials had been able to investigate Massaoui, they might have unraveled the entire the September 11 plot; additionally, this provision only applies to foreign terrorists or agents of foreign powers and not American citizens.
I believe that these common sense measures are necessary to defend our nation against terrorists and hostile foreign powers. I am deeply aware of our need to protect American citizen's Fourth Amendment liberties, and when the Patriot Act is brought up for a full review in December, I will evaluate each component and ensure that it meets the exacting standards of the United States Constitution.
Again, I certainly appreciate you contacting on this important issue. Hearing from all Missourians allows me to better understand your perspective on issues and how they impact the future of Missouri and the nation. For additional information regarding current legislation and my representation of the Seventh District, I invite you to visit my website at long.house.gov.
Sincerely,
Billy Long
Member of Congress
My question in all of this is when are we going to realize that our representative republic is going to fail if we don't continue the system our founding fathers developed that ensure a Congressman is in more in touch with their constituents--such as smaller districts so the average citizen isn't drowned out by special interest money--often coming from out of the district.
