Why not repeal the Patriot Act?

[Hutzpa]

If NSA is this big monster that cannot be contain, why not repeal the Patriot Act, since that is
Law which gives the NSA more leverage on eavesdropping.

[NYC_SKP]

1. Because congress members are afraid of being called weak on terrorism, I guess.

Cheney et al were very effective in drumming up support for the spy/war machine using fear tactics.

It's hard to undo that but I sure wish we would.

[raouldukelives]

6. After all we have suffered and caused others to suffer under the auspices of the Patriot Act.

One starts to wonder who the real terrorists are. If the goal of the terrorists is to reduce our liberties and to make us afraid, I'd say "Mission Accomplished".

[eShirl]

2. because jingoism

you can't repeal anything titled "Patriot (whatever)" or the terrorists/communists/heathens/nonAmericans win

[Agnosticsherbet]

3. Because the Republican House would never let such a bill through....

And neither Democratic Party controlled Senate.

There are a sufficient number of members in both houses who fear the repercussions from campaign commercials showing them "weak on defense" and fearful of corporations who benefit from the monstrous spending on spying and forever war that they don't want the US moving to different policies.

You might as well ask that they repeal The Authorization for Use of Military Force.

[hootinholler]

4. Rush Holt is trying

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/08/02/heres-what-real-reform-of-the-nsa-looks-like/

Last week, Holt introduced the Surveillance State Repeal Act. A number of members of Congress have offered proposals to rein in domestic surveillance, but Holt's bill may be the most ambitious. It would repeal the 2001 Patriot Act, which the NSA has cited as the legal basis for its phone records surveillance program. It would also repeal the 2008 FISA Amendments Act, the legal foundation for the government's PRISM program. And it would extend whistleblower protections to cover employees of intelligence agencies.

Holt spoke to us from the campaign trail on Thursday. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Timothy B. Lee: How would your legislation be different from other NSA reform proposals?

Rush Holt: This isn't reform. This is repeal. I voted against both of those [the Patriot Act and the FAA] before. And actually against Patriot before multiple times. Those bills were misguided in their specifics, and now seeing what various agencies have done to stretch the language of those bills to cover things that were never intended to be covered makes clear that they've got to go. Even Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) [the author of the Patriot Act] has said it was never intended to be used that way.

Perhaps we can encourage this behavior?

[Hutzpa]

5. Now that sure sounds promising

if only we can give it legs. Maybe using semantics in description of bill might help too.

[bluestate10]

7. Not all of the Patriot Act is bad. The bad parts should be fixed and in regards to

taping people's communications, the people doing the taping should have to show justification. I am ok with secret bodies making decisions about who to tap and the extent of the taping, people who may be up to murder should not be forewarned that someone is listening in on them.

[Mr Dixon]

8. IMO

Power Concedes Nothing without a Demand and no president is going to give up power to satisfy the people, that my friends will never happen.