Rochester Restore the Fourth Rally
Primary tabs
ROCHESTER - RESTORE THE FOURTH RALLY (7/4/13)
A Rally in Support of Our Fourth Amendment Rights
Contact: DCole37@gmail.com
EVENT DETAILS
Our 100 expected attendees will meet at Washington Square Park at 10:00am on July 4th. We will then march to the Federal Building at 10:30am for a demonstration in the plaza before marching back to the park at 12:00pm. Speakers are scheduled to give speeches at the Federal Building (10:45am) and in the park (12:15pm). There will be a broad spectrum of political ideologies attending with the same goal, restoring the government’s surveillance powers to the originally intended limits as described in the U.S. Constitution.
-------
To: the Representatives and Senators of the 113th Congress and the President of the United States
On June 6th, Edward Snowden revealed the egregious miscarriage of justice that is currently taking place against not only the citizens of the United States of America, but the citizens of the world. We learned, to our shock and horror, that what we thought were our private communications were in fact being monitored by federal agents without our knowledge or consent.
We learned that this monitoring was applied not only to suspected criminals, but to every law abiding American citizen, and even to citizens of other countries. We also learned that many of our own elected members of congress claim to have not known the full scale of these operations. Even now we have absolutely no idea just how deep this unconstitutional surveillance extends into what remains of our private lives.
We cannot sit idly by while this is going on. We refuse to live in a world where everything we say and everywhere we go could be monitored. We refuse to watch the country we love become hijacked by individuals who feel they can simply rewrite our constitution to meet their goals; who require us to "rethink" our fourth amendment rights. We refuse to accept that someone, somewhere could be monitoring our phone calls, emails, text messages, and other communications we make with our friends and loved ones. We refuse to live in fear, and we refuse to live in subjugation to a government that has forgotten its place.
Therefore, on June 8th, we started the "Restore the Fourth" movement, so named due to our desire to restore our fourth amendment rights. We have so far planned peaceful protests in over fifty cities around the country, although we expect that number to increase substantially.
We come from all across the political spectrum. We count republicans and democrats, conservatives and liberals among our group. We are young and old, rich and poor. What unites us to our common purpose is this: We believe that the right to be secure in our persons against unlawful search and seizure is a fundamental human right; one which cannot and should not be violated.
Restore the Fourth seeks to:
-
Raise public awareness of the unconstitutional surveillance methods employed by the United States government.
-
The American people have a right to know the actions of their government. Accountability is the foundation of democracy, and it is necessary to ensure the protection of the Constitution and the people it serves.
-
Ensure that the scope of government surveillance is constitutional, limited, clearly defined, and strictly enforced.
-
Surveillance activities must be conducted within the legal bounds defined by the Constitution and US law. In order to effectively defend the rights of the people, these bounds must be clearly stated and strictly enforced.
-
Establish a clear and transparent system of accountability for the United States' intelligence community.
-
A clear system of accountability is required in order to properly enforce restrictions on surveillance activities. This system must be open and visible to the American people in order to ensure that proper protocols are followed.
Restore the Fourth demands that the U.S. government:
-
Conduct a congressional hearing and a criminal investigation into the extent and constitutionality of domestic government surveillance programs.
-
A full investigation must be conducted to determine the scale and legality of the actions taken by the US intelligence community. This must include revealing the scope and duration of surveillance programs, as well as examining the institutional factors that allowed their creation. The methodology and results of the investigation must be made public.
-
Reform the USA PATRIOT Act, specifically Section 215 but generally with respect to the rights of American citizens, and impose clear constraints on the powers granted by FISA.
-
Many legislative actions taken since 9/11 have allowed an expansion of government surveillance powers in the name of safety and security. It is vital that these powers be reined in to stay within the boundaries outlined by the Constitution.
-
Take a federal stance against law-enforcement practices across the nation which also violate our physical security and privacy, such as “stop-and-frisk” and internal security check-points.
-
The PRISM program that has recently come to light is one of many slowly expanding violations of the Fourth Amendment rights of Americans. The safety and privacy of our persons must also be ensured.
-
Hold those involved in government surveillance programs accountable to stringent and transparent judicial oversight.
-
Accountability is paramount to ensure such violations do not happen in the future. Those responsible for violating the Constitution must be brought to light and their conduct reviewed by a duly appointed judge to determine the legality of their behavior.
-
Remove James Clapper from his position as Director of National Intelligence.
-
Director James Clapper gave misleading or false testimony before the Congress in response to inquiries by Senator Ron Wyden in a March 12, 2013 hearing. These statements are a breach of the public's trust, if not a violation of US law. As such, a full investigation must be conducted into Mr. Clapper's knowledge and testimony, as well as the legality of his actions.
We will hold a demonstration in Washington Square Park, Rochester NY and march to the Federal Building in solidarity with more than 50 other planned rallies nationwide on July 4th. Efforts are already being coordinated across the country to ensure a powerful message is sent on a day that is so symbolically significant to our liberty. We will exercise our First Amendment rights to Restore the Fourth. The power of a government should exist to reflect the will of its people. We, the American people, demand that our government adhere to its Constitutional limits and respect our wishes. If those currently in office cannot or will not rectify the troubling violations of our rights, we will act swiftly to replace them. We urge you to act on these requests in order to end the violation of our rights and liberties, and to uphold the Constitution as you swore to do when you took office:
"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States."
-Congressional Oath of Office
Awaiting Your Action,
Restore the Fourth
https://www.facebook.com/RochesterRestoreTheFourth
EVENT DETAILS
Our 100 expected attendees will meet at Washington Square Park at 10:00am on July 4th. We will then march to the Federal Building at 10:30am for a demonstration in the plaza before marching back to the park at 12:00pm. Speakers are scheduled to give speeches at the Federal Building (10:45am) and in the park (12:15pm). There will be a broad spectrum of political ideologies attending with the same goal, restoring the government’s surveillance powers to the originally intended limits as described in the U.S. Constitution.
Contact: DCole37@gmail.com
###
