WASHINGTON, 6 April 2004 — The USA Patriot Act appears to have divided conservatives in the Republican Party who are critical of the law. Even more, they are campaigning against President Bush’s push to reauthorize it, resulting in and intra-party debate and causing some Republicans to go so far as to defend Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee.
These up-to-now loyal Republicans are deeply critical of the Patriot Act, saying it was created with the purpose of making it too easy to label anyone critical of the Act as “unpatriotic,” or “soft on terrorism.”
“Conservatives have always been split on the competing values of national security on the one hand, and individual liberty and the mistrust of big government on the other,” said David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union.
“I believe it’s a wedge issue they will try to use against Kerry,” Keene recently told journalists. “There have been several signals — Bush’s State of the Union speech and (Attorney General John) Ashcroft’s response to (Sen. Larry) Craig’s legislation — which attempts to characterize anyone who questions security (legislation) as not completely loyal.”
Keene is referring to two Idaho Republican lawmakers, who are so uneasy about the ramifications of the bill — Rep. C.L. “Butch” Otter, and Sen. Larry Craig — that they are sponsoring bills to add what they say are needed requirements to protect personal liberty and privacy to the Patriot Act.
Craig is on the Judiciary Committee, and their bills have been backed by 30 lawmakers from both parties.
Ashcroft has publicly opposed the Craig-Otter proposal, saying it will undermine the government’s ability to fight terrorism.
Former Republican Congressman Robert Barr has taken the unusual step of coming out in support of Democratic presidential contender Kerry: “Kerry isn’t a supporter of terrorism any more than I am,” said Barr, who believes the law violates personal privacy. “Just because we both raised some questions about whether some things in the Patriot Act go too far.
“The Fourth Amendment is a nuisance to the administration, but the amendment protects citizens and legal immigrants form the government’s monitoring them whenever it wants, without good cause — and if that happens, it’s the end of personal liberty,” Barr recently told the press.
“We can’t say we’ll let government have these unconstitutional powers in the Patriot Act because they will never use them. Besides, who knows how many times the government has used them? They’re secret searches,” said Barr.
Opponents of the Patriot Act are concerned that the bill allows the government to “sneak and peek” at what a person has in his office financial records, has been reading in a public library, or keeps on his home computer. The Patriot Act can investigate the targeted person without informing him of the searches. Additionally, the Act does not require that the targeted person be a terrorism suspect.
