Traitor.

It’s a harsh term, but it’s an apt one to describe those 73 U.S. Senators who voted yesterday to approve legislation to renew the FISA Amendments Act for five years without any reforms at all. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary lists the primary definition of “traitor” as “one who betrays another’s trust or is false to an obligation or duty”.

United States senators have been entrusted with extraordinary power, with the understanding that they will use that power respectfully, and in accordance with the Oath Of Office all senators take, which states: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.”

The very first U.S. Congress kept the Oath simple, expressing only the central idea: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States.”

Members of Congress are not primarily tasked with defending the physical territory of the United States, or ensuring the physical security of its people. Their first, most necessary job is to defend the Constitution, the document that provides us with our freedoms.

Among the most essential of the freedoms established by the Constitution of the United States of America is the Fourth Amendment, a part of the Bill of Rights. The Fourth Amendment establishes a right to security – but not the kind of security that’s been delivered under the authoritarian title of The Homeland. The only security that the Fourth Amendment provides is protection from excessive government searches and seizures: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

The FISA Amendments Act establishes a gigantic, pervasive system of unreasonable search and seizure that violates the specific requirements of the Fourth Amendment. A vote in favor of keeping in place the FISA Amendments Act, one of the worst holdovers from the era of George W. Bush, is a violation of the Oath Of Office.

That makes any member of the Senate who voted yesterday to preserve the FISA Amendments Act for five more years a traitor who deserves to be removed from office at the next electoral opportunity.

The following is a full roll call of the 73 U.S. senators who voted in favor of prolonging the FISA Amendments Act:

Senator Lamar Alexander
Senator Kelly Ayotte
Senator John Barrasso
Senator Michael Bennet
Senator Richard Blumenthal
Senator Roy Blunt
Senator John Boozman
Senator Scott Brown
Senator Richard Burr
Senator Benjamin Cardin
Senator Thomas Carper
Senator Robert Casey
Senator Saxby Chambliss
Senator Daniel Coats
Senator Thomas Coburn
Senator Thad Cochran
Senator Kent Conrad
Senator Susan Collins
Senator Bob Corker
Senator John Cornyn
Senator Mike Crapo
Senator Michael Enzi
Senator Dianne Feinstein

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
Senator Lindsey Graham
Senator Charles Grassley
Senator Kay Hagan
Senator Orrin Hatch
Senator Dean Heller
Senator John Hoeven
Senator Kay Hutchison
Senator James Inhofe
Senator Johnny Isakson
Senator Mike Johanns
Senator Tim Johnson
Senator Ron Johnson
Senator John Kerry
Senator Amy Klobuchar
Senator Herb Kohl
Senator Jon Kyl
Senator Mary Landrieu
Senator Carl Levin
Senator Joseph Lieberman
Senator Richard Lugar
Senator Joe Manchin
Senator John McCain
Senator Claire McCaskill
Senator Mitch McConnell
Senator Barbara Mikulski
Senator Jerry Moran
Senator Bill Nelson
Senator Ben Nelson
Senator Robert Portman
Senator Mark Pryor
Senator Jack Reed
Senator Harry Reid
Senator James Risch
Senator Pat Roberts
Senator John Rockefeller
Senator Marco Rubio
Senator Charles Schumer
Senator Jeff Sessions
Senator Jeanne Shaheen
Senator Richard Shelby
Senator Olympia Snowe
Senator Debbie Stabenow
Senator John Thune
Senator Pat Toomey
Senator David Vitter
Senator Mark Warner
Senator Jim Webb
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
Senator Roger Wicker

If your state is represented by one or two of the names you see here, and you care about the survival of the Bill of Rights, it is now your job to prevent their re-election.

Of course, not every one of these senators is actually up for re-election in the next congressional election year, 2014. In the next article, I’ll identify those who are, creating a top priority list for electoral defeat.

http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2012/12/29/the-senates-fisa-traitors-to-liberty/